


































THE 


Millionaire 


BY 


C. ^TREBOR 

^ n T. ^ ^ ^ ♦ 

C A C V <4- <- < x/ 

Author op “The Unwritten Will,” “Land Poor,” etc., etc. 


Copyrighted by ROBERT C. G IVINS, 1886 




SNIVIG 






4 1 






NOV 29; 886 


>v 


CHICAGO : 

COOK COUNTY REVIEW, 
133 La Salle Street. 

1886. 


a 

wash'^^ 






The Millionaire Tramp. 

BY SNIVIG C. TREBOR. 


CHAPTER I. 

AN ANCIENT FEUD. 

Strange is it, that our bloods, 

Of color, weight and heat, pour’d all together. 

Would quite confound distinction, yet stand off 
In differences so mighty.” 

Landsdowne is a name to be found in the parish rec- 
ords of Maidestone, England, for several centuries. 

The Margates came in 1776, from an advanced farming 
section of the north, ready to give the benefit of their 
advice to all about them. 

Squire Landsdowne, being a near neighbor, received a 
generous share; but, having lorded it over the community 
for many years he, unfortunately, was not inclined to be 
dictated to. 

Differences arising between them grew till one day the 
original Squire Landsdowne was ploughing in a new and 
stony field. The day was oppressive. He had sworn enough 
since breakfast to fulfill the requirements of a sea cap- 
tain. The horses were nervous and balky, flies numerous 
and bothersome, and as the ploughshare would frequently 


2 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


antagonize a boulder of unusual proportions the Squire 
would pave the atmosphere with old-fashioned profanity. 

“Hoo' art thee th’ day, Squire?” said the original Mar- 
gate as he folded his arms leisurely over the stone fence 
which acted as a division line between a section of their 
farms. The Squire answered wHh a puff, and wiping 
the perspiration hurriedly from his brow he caught the 
plough again without attempting to stop. Five paces 
ahead, directly on the line of his last furrow and the com- 
ing ploughshare was a huge stone, to avoid which required 
all the ingenuity and dexterity the Squire possessed. 

“ Ye’s doan’t pere to understan’ the knack of holding 
the ploo as we do northward,” said Mr. Margate, in rather 
a loud and authoritative tone of voice. The Squire, 
simultaneously with this remark, hit the rock full abreast, 
the concussion almost jerking him off his feet. 

Vesuvius burst in all its glory, and as the Squire threw 
the ploughshare over on its side, he hissed through his 
volcanic throat with all the pent-up venom of a year : 

‘‘ Why the devil, sir, didn’t you stay up north?” The 
original Margate made no reply, but retraced his steps to 
his home, atrociously and pointedly insulted. Three 
generations passed away, but the animosity did not. It 
was bequeathed like an heirloom and became intensified 
as developed in the succeeding new blood. 

****** 

It was 1876. A century had passed. Squire John 
Landsdowne number three had the same hard features of 
his ancestor. The house had been rebuilt. A magnifi- 
cent structure stood upon the site of its predecessor, con- 
taining all the improvements that modern art could sug- 
gest. Wonderful hedges, variegated foliage neatly 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


3 


trimmed, parterres carefully kept, rich green lawns, 
statuary along the walks, deer grazing in the park. 
A great change had come over the spirit of the old 
place. The handiwork of modern design had changed the 
old-fashioned home into elaborate rooms, stately halls, 
majestic windows and flower-clad balconies ; in fact, a pal- 
ace was Landsdowne Hall. 

The Margates, too, were not to be outdone. On the 
hill, through the stately oaks, shone the glittering dome 
of their elegant residence, jealous rivalry keeping up 
one continual effort to outdo the other family in the mag- 
nificence of their respective abodes. The fences, gates 
and buildings were massive, the lawns and gardens, too, 
were tastily and beautifully kept, and a small Eden was 
opened to view as one peeped up the long avenue from 
the highway leading to “Oak Hill,” a name lately con- 
ferred upon the place. 

The present Margate, whose Christian name was Arch- 
ibald; was well informed, possessing intelligence far 
beyond the ordinary country gentleman ; a patient student, 
proficient in many arts and sciences, well posted in the 
current topics of the day, in politics a whig, and a leader 
in many issues which affected his section ot the country. 
Being a fluent and earnest speaker his chance, for gain- 
ing a seat in parliament at no distant day was regarded as 
favorable. 

Archibald Margate had an only son, upon whom he 
staked great possibilities. Warren, a bright, energetic 
youth of nineteen, tall and keen-eyed, and of such a gay 
and cheerful disposition that he had earned many friends 
among his collegiate acquaintances. 

Warren could pull a good stroke, bat a fair innings at 
cricket, and was by no means raw in fencing, boxing, and 




4 


THE MILLION AIKE TKiUklP. 


other athletic pastimes; true, he had coursing through 
his veins a little of the obtrusive and dictatorial spirit of 
the Margates, but, underlying this, was a stratum of 
good nature and mirthfulness, taken from his mother, a 
dear, light-hearted lady, that rather offset the former. 

Lillie, his sister, seventeen, and the prettiest girl in all 
Kent, was so attached to him that she looked forward with 
dread to the approaching end of his vacation. 

^ ^ ^ 

Charles Landsdowne, the only son of Squire Lands- 
downe, was a line, manly fellow, with intelligent dark 
eyes, clear, bright, resolute face, and a powerful neck, 
which, alone, indicated the stubbornness of his race; gen- 
ial and kind, he was a faithful friend but a dangerous 
opponent when crossed, as many a young man who had 
measured backs with him on the playground sand at 
Maidestone College well knew. 

His favorite sport was shooting, to which he devoted 
much of his leisure time. He inherited the aversion to 
the Margates, but it had been noticed that during services 
in St. Mark’s Church on the hill, in the old-fashioned 
square family pew. Young Landsdowne would sit in such 
a position that fair Lillie Margate’s face could be viewed 
without much effort; and so, too, it was only human that 
he might once in a great while catch a gleam of light 
from her lovely, flashing eyes. But this was only during 
a very interesting sentence of the worthy rector’s sermon, 
and when the sturdy head of the venerable Squire was 
turned in the opposite direction. 

The families never interchanged a word. 

One bright Sunday morning, the church being 
crowded, Lillie had waited to talk a moment at the close 


THE MILLIONAIKE TKAMP. 


5 


of the services with a young lady in a neighboring pew. 
While passing through the crowd to overtake her family 
she accidentally dropped her prayer book. Young Lands- 
downe hesitated for a moment — he was near her in the 
aisle. He picked it up, bowed politely — blushed. Yes, 
a manly, healthy blush, and returned it to her. Did Lil- 
lie respond in the same manner? Aye! it was the crim- 
son which can only mount to the cheek of a maiden pure 
and free from all affectation. And the smile which accom- 
panied it came from a heart in which the family animosi- 
ty had found no place. 

* * * * * * 

There was a farm hand at Landsdowne Hall named 
William Lindley, of sullen temperament, hard-working 
enough, but inclined to have trouble with the men. He 
had been warned by the Squire twice; a third warning 
was equivalent to a dismissal at the Hall. This man had 
been in the habit of visiting the kitchen of the Margates 
to see a young woman employed as assistant cook, named 
Phoebe. It came to the notice of young Warren Margate 
that this fellow meant no good by his frequent visits; 
and on one sultry starlight evening while Warren 
was enjoying a walk on the lawn back of the house 
he overheard a conversation between Phoebe and the 
man which fully confirmed his suspicions. Young 
Margate walked up to him and demanded peremptorily by 
what right he trespassed upon the grounds. The answer 
was sullen and impertinent: “What business be this of 
yourn, young maester, perhaps as you be sweet on the 
girl yourself ? ’’ 

“ I will make it my business, you scoundrel,’' quickly 
responded Margate. 


6 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAJVIP. 


“ Them’s big words from a hinsignifica’t chap as ought 
to be a gentleman,” sneered Lindley. “You be a bigun on 
your own grown’ no doubt.” Lindley was a powerful man 
and a brute in all his instincts. He was aware that young 
Margate was something of an athlete but thought his own 
muscular superiority sufficient to counterbalance his 
opponent’s science. “ Now young un, ’it the first blow, as 
I don’t want ter commence the assault;” and, true to the 
admonition , Margate landed a terrific left-hander on Lind- 
ley’s face which reeled him; following his adversary up 
Margate led with his right, before Lindley had time to 
rally and knocked him down. Lindley, enraged at being 
struck so keenly, rose to his feet and made a terrible kick 
at Margate, which fortunately missed him. 

“Youdastardly coward,” exclaimed Margate, excitedly, 
at this outrage, “ I’ll show you how to fight.” Margate 
quickly disrobed him of his coat, put up his arms in a true 
and scientific manner, and led a severe blow on Lind- 
ley’s swollen face. Phoebe had run to the house for help ; 
finding no one she returned with a broom, a woman’s 
usual weapon of defence. As Margate sparred about for 
a chance he caught a glimpse of Phoebe and ordered her 
to retire. 

Lindley made several desperate lunges at his nimble 
adversary, his anger increasing at his ineffectual blows. 

One of Lindley’ s wild passes made a severe bruise on 
young Margate’s forehead, drawing the blood. Margate 
now summoned up all his strength, striking right and 
left from the shoulder, forcing the enemy back and getting 
three magnificent blows on his adversary’s face. 

Lindley rushed forward in a dogged, obstinate manner, 
apparently half stupefied with the punishment. Margate, 
taking advantage of his carelessness, administered a sledge- 


THE MDLLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


7 


hammer upper cut which completely knocked Lindley ofi' 
his feet. 

Then grasping him by the collar he jerked him 
unwillingly down the lane to the highway and giving him 
a parting shove towards Landsdowne Hall, said : “ There, 
now, you dog, never let me see you on these premises 
again.’’ Lindley shambled hurriedly along the road; 
when at a safe distance he turned, and shaking his fist, 
called out through the darkness, “ I’ll get even with ye 
yet, young devil.” 



CHAPTER II. 


A CHANCE MEETING. 

“ It matters not the antagonistic blood. 

Or opposition of stern religious creed, 

All barriers will drift away with Time’s great flood 
If never dying true-love be the planted seed.” 

Soon after this occurrence at Oak Hill Charles Lands- 
downe had occasion to transact some business about two 
miles from his home, and, as the weather was pleasant, 
he went afoot. Eeturning, it was becoming twilight. It 
was one of those beautiful autumn evenings we wish 
could always remain with us ; the golden leaves were fall- 
ing on the roadside, the myrtle and sumach in the corners 
of the field^shone forth resplendent with their autumnal 
hues. In the distance could be heard the irregular tink- 
ling of the COW" bells as the faithful kine wandered lazily 
homeward. The bobolink was singing his evening hymn. 
The hop gardens and Kentish landscape over the undulat- 
ing fields, lit by the fading rays of the sinking sun, made 
a beautiful picture. He paused to look back on these 
familiar scenes , and his mind entered a channel of happy 
and ambitious thought. He was day-dreaming of the 
brilliant prospect in store for him. His father was getting 
on in years and would soon retire from the active field of 
life, and he, as inheritor of Landsdowne Hall, would soon 
occupy an enviable position among his neighboring ac- 
quaintances. “ I will not be content with the ordinary 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAJSIP. 


9 


title of Squire,” he said ; “ a name must be made for the 
family — Sir Charles Laiidsdowne ! that sounds aristocratic. 
But stay, I am dreaming ; the very substance of these am- 
bitious thoughts is merely the shadow of a dream.” 

As he thus mused his thoughts reverted to the fair face 
of Lillie Margate, and while this angel vision flitted past 
he indeed heard the rustling of her wings; for, lo! a few 
steps behind him in the road, advancing with hurried 
steps, came none other than she. Lillie had been visiting 
some girl friend and was returning home. As she passed 
she bowed pleasantly. Landsdowne hesitated a moment, 
and then, raising his hat politely, he stepped beside 
her and begged permission to accompany her. His 
gallantry was accepted with the same sweet smile he had 
encountered in the church aisle. “ Think of it,” he said; 
“a Margate and a Landsdowne walking home together. 

“Something that has not happened in three genera- 
tions,” replied Lillie, slightly embarrassed. 

Landsdowne was a brave youth; but, nevertheless, no 
snare-drum expert ever beat a more efficient tattoo than 
did his heart against the innermost portals of his vest upon 
this memorable occasion. 

Mustering up courage Charles broke the silence which 
succeeded Lillie’s last sage rejoinder: 

“ Just think of it; you and I ought to have been play- 
mates.” 

“Yes,” she replied ; ‘ ‘instead of being born to dread each 
other like young wild beasts.” 

More courage. ^ 

“Then we will dispel this absurd antagonism, wont 

“ Yes, we must,” cheerily the pretty maiden answered, 
her cheeks suffused with rosy blushes. She was clad in 



10 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAIVIP. 


an ordinary waterproof wrapper, and as the evening dew 
would soon begrin to fall she had raised her hood. In 
this simple attire, facing towards the West, her usually 
bright face reflected the bright rays of the setting sun, 
and simultaneously illumined with joy the doubting heart 
of young Landsdowne. 

As the evening faded into night Lillie accepted the 
proffered arm, and the Squire’s son wished that the walk 
home was one hundred miles instead of one. Leisurely 
they strolled along, and many pleasant allusions were 
made to their clandestine acquaintanceship. 

“ How the Governor would stare should he meet us 
now,” chuckled Landsdowne. At the very thought the 
Margate held on more firmly to the Landsdowne arm and 
shrugged her graceful shoulders. That she should abhor 
the Squire was innate, but for what real reason this cheer- 
ful maiden could not tell. 

“Who is that? ” exclaimed Charles, as he came to a dead 
halt. “ It’s the Governor, or I am not his son.” 

True enough. In the high-seated sulky, hitched to 
“ Bonny Doon,” his favorite night horse, sat, severe and 
stately, in bold relief against the fading twilight, none 
other than the sturdy Squire. 

Miss Margate, quick as a flash, turned to march on as if 
not in company with young Landsdowne, but in this case 
woman’s adroitness was surpassed by man’s presence of 
mind; for Charles, standing directly in front, she became 
completely eclipsed by his broad shoulders. The Squire 
jogged along without taking the slightest notice of them, 
he being, as usual, busy ruminating over some matter per- 
taining to the estate. 

“Oh, my! how glad I am he did not see us,” exclaimed 
Lillie, in a whisper. 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


11 


“ Ah ! but he saw me. I’ll wager he is going over to old 
Judge Orcott’s for supper. They are discussing some po- 
litical problem, and, perhaps, the Governor is making up 
his argument.” 

No sooner had the words escaped his lips than a deep 
voice hallooed through the dusk : 

“ Hi there! Charley boy, is that you ? ” 

The Squire would never allow anything to interfere 
with his cogitations, and when his mental argument was 
concluded he recollected having seen his son. 

“Yes, sir,” answered the son. 

“ Do you want to go with me ? ” 

“No, thanks, I will go home.” 

The Squire disappeared* 

They were nearing the gate of Oak Hill when Lillie 

said : . x 4. i 

“ Mr. Landsdowne, I am exceedingly sorry I cannot ask 

you in.” 

“ Never mind,” he answered, “ you and I must go to 
work and clear away this mist of unfriendliness ’’—tightly 
holding her hand— “ and now we must part.” 

She held down her head a moment, and then, looking up 
quickly in his face, she made no reply; a little, sparkling 
tear could be seen in one corner of her lustrous eye. 

“ I am exceedingly thankful for your company and your 
protection. Good night I Good night I ” 

Landsdowne noticed a slight tremor in her voice as she 
spoke the last good night. Eaising his hat, he replied : 

“ My dear Miss Margate, Adieu! till we meet againP 


CHAPTER III. 


TROUBLE BREWING. 

There is nae luck about the house, 

There is nae luck at all.” 

When Lillie Margate passed up the avenue, through the 
front yard, after her walk with Landsdowne, Wallace, 
their old Scotch gardener, stood at the front gate, his 
mouth open wide with amazement. 

‘‘ It couldna be, it couldna be. Th’ Landsdowne son . 
ta’kin’ to our Miss ! Deery me ! Oh ! deery me ! Crude 
lordy ! I fere there’s treble bruin’, treble bruin’, and it’s 
Freeday th’ day. Ill luck! ill luck!” 

This jumble was partly overheard by Lillie, but believ- 
ing it impossible for “Wallie” to have identified Lands- 
downe, as by that time it had grown quite dark, she en- 
tered the house, paying no further attention to the old 
man’s remarks. 

A strange superstition existed among the servants of 
these peculiar families, and old Wallace slept but little 
that night; he regarded the event of the “ make up” as 
portentous of evil. However, he kept his knowledge of 
the clandestine meeting of Charles and Lillie a dead secret, 
believing silence as essential in this case as after a bad 
dream. 

Saturday, the day following, was usually devoted by 
young Landsdowne to shooting grouse in the thickets 
about two miles back from the highway, a spot he had 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


13 


visited every fall for many years. He was an expert shot 
with the fowling piece and was known as such the country 
over. 

The day dawned favorably for a good day’s sport. He 
knew the thickets so well he did not take his famous hunt- 
ing dog, Sport, who howled dismally as, imprisoned in 
his kennel, he saw his master pass along the lane. 

His gun had been properly cleaned and loaded the 
evening before by one of the farm hands, and he started 
out on a brisk walk, as it was a fresh and chilly morning. 

Keaching the thicket he crossed the fence, making a 
short cut to a spot where he had frequently had good 
luck. He noticed immediately in front of him on the ground 
a fine brace of grouse ; as he was about to raise his gun the 
form of a man appeared, partially hidden by the thicket. 
Not desiring to lose his shot he was about to fire at the game, 
when the bending of a bough, against which his right arm 
rested, caused the muzzle of the gun to sway out of line 
with the birds ; in an instant his forefinger touched the 
hair-trigger; a loud report, and, gazing through the smoke 
following the discharge, he soon beheld a sight that 
chilled his blood, riveting him for a moment to the spot. 
Before him lay the prostrate form of Warren Margate, 
breathing heavily. Bushing forward through the thicket 
he raised Margate’s head in his arms. 

‘ ‘ Merciful Heaven ! there is no hope,” exclaimed Lands- 
downe. 

The entire load of shot had entered his neck, punctur- 
ino- the jugular vein. It was but a few minutes ere life 
would depart forever. Quickly attempting to stop the 
flow of blood with his handkerchief, he discovered some 
of the pieces had entered the brain. 

“ My Grod ! Margate, speak to me. What have I done? 


14 


THE MILLIONAIKE TRAMP. 


Oh, horrible accident! Oh, luckless fate! Help! help! ’’ 
He shouted in vain. 

Poor Warren lifted his eyes from which the light of the 
world was quickly fading. He made a desperate attempt 
to speak, but the dark red blood gurgled in his manly 
throat, and the only words Landsdowne could distinguish 
sounded like “Two shots! Two shots!” Sinking in a 
faint he could say no more. 

There was an expression on his face which meant some- 
thing Landsdowne could not interpret. Margate, in his 
dying moments, had endeavored to make some sign that 
Landsdowne would comprehend; but, alas! he breathed 
his last five minutes after receiving his death wound. 

Landsdowne wept bitter tears over the sad accident. 
Tenderly covering the remains with the shooting coat re- 
moved from the body, he started homewards. Retracing 
his steps a few paces he paused to consider what was best 
to be done. The full force of his unfortunate position 
dawned upon him ; dropping his gun and throwing up his 
arms in an appealing attitude to heaven, he exclaimed: 

“ Merciful God, I am lost! I am a doomed man; there 
is no hope. If I return to Landsdowne Hall I will be con- 
victed and hung. Who will believe a Landsdowne enter- 
tained no malice against a Margate, and that this shooting 
was an accident?” He wrung his hands. 

“ What have I done? brought disgrace and disaster on 
the name of Landsdowne forever. W ait ; there is but one 
chance. I will take it.” 

Quickly hurrying back to the fatal spot he kneeled over 
the chilling form and, kissing the cold forehead, said : 

‘ ‘ Good-bye ! poor boy. Did you but know the truth. 
Could you but speak. Oh, heaven! so young. What a 
fate! ” 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAJVIP. 


15 


Looking up he imagined he heard the rustling of leaves 
as though some one approached. He arose, walking hur- 
riedly to an open spot in the thicket; he looked over the 
fence and beheld in the distance the glittering vanes of 
Landsdowne Hall. ’Twas one last look, and as he turned 
to leave he raised his hat, saying : 

“Farewell, my home! My home no longer now.’^ 

He started in a roundabout way toward the main 
road and was seen no more. 


CHAPTER IV. 


THE FAREWELL RECEPTION. 

“ Who would guess 

If ever more should meet those mutual eyes, 

Since upon night so sweet, such awful morn could rise." 

It was toward five o’clock on the afternoon of the same 
day. Old Wallie, the gardener, who had been picking a 
few choice roses from the hot-house to decorate the dark 
tresses of Lillie that evening, called at the door. 

There was to be a farewell reception at Oak Hill for 
Warren, who would not he home again till Christmas. 

Several college chums residing in the neighboring 
towns had been invited, together with some young ladies, 
the daughters of well-to-do farmers, and a few relatives 
and friends from the city. In fact, quite a little enter- 
tainment was provided and a joyous time anticipated. 

Old Wallace sighed as he handed Miss Lillie the flow- 
ers. 

<< Why, my dear old ‘ Wallie,’ what is troubling you? 
What makes you so sad? ” 

The old man shook his head but said nothing. He went 
out as was his habit when anything worried him, and sat 
and smoked on the stile by the orchard “a bit” before 
supper. 

As he sat there the smoke from his ancient clay pipe 
curled up spirally into the clear air. Of what was the old 
man thinking? He was picturing in his mind all the at- 
tempts during his career at reconciliation between the 
families, when who should come crawling along with his 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


17 


peculiar gait but his neighbor, John Tague, who, sixty 
years ago, was a playmate of his on the verdure-clad hills 
of Scotland. 

“ Weel, John, how be it wie thee, my mon? ’’ 

“ Ah ! the same auld sang ; nothing much a doo and a 
plenty o’ gude eatin’,” replied John. 

“ Sit doon, mon, and ta’k a bit. I’ve been bruidin’ 
o’er forebodin’s a’ th’ day, John,” said Wallie, as he puffed 
reverentially with his black pipe. 

“ Deen the young meister ha’ o’ luick the day? ” 

“ That as I is trooblin’ aboot.” 

“Ye nae meanin’ that aught happened the boy, lad? ” 

“ Nae, I hope not, but it’s a lang time o’ his returnin’. 
Did ye nae hear o’ the rumpus he had? ” 

John pulled out his pipe and looked at Wallie with pro- 
found astonishment. 

“ What, th’ mon Lindlee, be he Yorkshire or Lanca- 
shire I dinna nae ken, was a makin’ oop to the girrel o’ 
th’ kitchin’, and he meant nae gude — leasten sae the young 
meister thot, an’ he basted both on the rogue’s eyes, and 
whirrirred him oot o’ the Ian gate lak o’ cur doeg.” 

“ Gude, gude,” heartily laughed old John, as he knocked 
the ashes out of his pipe. “ He’s a brave un, the young 
gintleman.” 

“ But I fere it’s nae gude thing after all, as I nae laked 
the luike o’ that sulkin’ brute, Lindlee,” said Wallie. 

“Young meister went a gunniiT th’ day, an’ he asked 
wha’ the spots for the grouse o’ the ruffled kine run last 
eve,” earnestly spoke John. 

Wallie relit his pipe, and said with a yawn : 

‘ ‘ I’d feel mesel easier to see him in yon gate.” 

John Tague stretched himself, yawned, and walked off 
without saying a word. Wallie walked in to supper. 


18 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAIUP. 


* * * ^ * 

Warren Margate’s fall vacation Avas drawing to a close, 
and he had determined to have a day at the grouse in the 
thickets before returning to college. So it happened that 
on the evening prior to this he had applied to old John 
Tague, a neighbor and crack shot, for a little information 
regarding the best spots to find the game. At the time 
he was talking to Tague, whom he met on the road in 
front of Tague’s house, Lindley came up, but seeing War- 
ren he scowled sullenly and walked away. 

It was an hour before the time when the company was 
expected. 

Mrs. Margate inquired of Wallie if Warren had returned. 
Keceiving a negative reply, Edward, a boy working on 
the place, was dispatched to a neighbor’s to see if he might 
have gone there, as he would probably have exhibited his 
game to Albert Fielding, a college chum, a mile down the 
road, had he been successful. The boy returned. No 
news. 

The stately lamps on the wide veranda were lit. The 
gate lights cleaned and hung up. Wallie ate but little, his 
face Avas pale, and the hired girls jibed him, but he made 
no reply. Along came several jolly, laughing girl friends 
of Lillie’s. The music usual to the country dance arrived. 

It began to be whispered about, “ Where is the host? ” 
Lillie came down stairs radiant Avith happiness, her dark 
hair decorated with the loveliest of roses. She was indeed 
bewitching. 

‘ ‘ Never mind brother, he will be here in a few min- 
utes,” she gayly replied to many inquiries. 

“Oh, girls! the music has come,” she said; “ let us have 
a little impromptu dance.” 

Mrs. Margate came down in her iieAV dress looking 


- THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAIVIP. 


19 

almost the counterpart of her daughter, notwithstanding 
the lights and shadows of fifty years had swept her well 
preserved fair face, saying: 

“ Is it not too bad Warren is not here. I am really be- 
coming annoyed at him. He has gone shooting, and those 
wild boys never know when to desist.” 

Time passed on. It was eight o’clock. Mrs. Margate 
looked distressed and retired to her room. The mirth of 
the party seemed to die away and foreboding whisperings 
took its place. Albert Fielding, who had just arrived, 
proposed to two or three young men to organize a search 
for him. A loud knock at the front door announced some 
one. All rushed forward to welcome the missing host. 
It proved to be the senior Margate, who had been to the 
city. 

When informed of Warren’s mysterious absence a slight 
pallor spread over Archibald’s usually ruddy face. 

He had been informed of the late trouble with Lindley, 
and knew some mischief might come of it. After saluting 
the guests and conversing with and comforting his wife, 
he retired to his study. 

At this juncture young Fielding proposed to organize a 
hunt, which proposal was heartily accepted by all hands, 
for he was as nimble as a deer and as powerful as an ox ; 
a fit leader, ready for an adventure at a moment’s notice. 

The party was soon prepared for the start. Old Wallie, 
with a large lamp and a coil of rope, strutted about the 
yard with considerable officiousness. 

“ Where is Warren’s dog? she’ll trace him,” shouted 
one. Loosing the spaniel from her chain, she, too , joined in 
the hunt with as much interest as the rest. 

Lillie stood sobbing at the door as they disappeared in 
the darkness, the other girls comforting her. 


20 


THE MLLIONAIKE TRAMP. 


The old i^ardener kept his eye on the spaniel, G3^sy. 

“ Now, lassie, gae scent oot th’ young meister.” 

The dog crossed along the field and ran up and down 
several times to a lane some distance back of the house. 
The brute yelped several times, and whined, evidently in- 
dicating she had found the trail. 

Wallie whistled to the spaniel tokeepclose. Following 
in the wake were a half dozen young men, Albert Field- 
ing being next to Wallie, who knew every foot of ground 
on the estate. After walking stealthily for two miles they 
reached the thicket, the stone fence dividing the Mar- 
gate property from that west of it. Along this fence the 
dog halted and barked, running up and down it several 
times. Gypsy seemed to have lost the trail, when 
suddenly she sprang and scrambled over the fence. The 
night was dark and the glarish rays from the lanterns lit 
up the brown leaves with an ominous light. Again 
Gypsy jumped the fence. 

“ He did not go in that direction,” exclaimed Fielding. 

‘‘ Puir boy, he’s nae far awa from here,” said old Wallie 
in a subdued and tremulous voice. 

The latter remark of the old gardener caused a gloom to 
spread over the party momentarily, but when Gypsy again 
jumped the fence, a certain excitement prevailed. 

“ Let us go on,” hurriedly shouted Fielding, as with 
one hand on the top he jumped the stone fence clear. 

‘‘ Hand me a light,” he said. 

“Wait, mon; nae so fast. Wait for my auld bones;” 
and two of the party helped the old man over. 

Gypsy was howling and barking. In a brief minute all 
had crossed the fence and were pushing their way through 
the thicket, young Fielding leading. In an open spot on 
the grass, covered by his coat, the flickering light of half 


THE MELLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


21 


a dozen lanterns cast their rays on all that was mortal of 
the host of the evening, Warren Margate. With trem- 
bling hands, and tears running down his weather-beaten 
face, the old Scotchman lifted the coat gently from the 
body. A horrified murmur came from all mouths simulta- 
neously : 

“ Murdered! ! ” 

“Aye! and in cauld bluid, cauld bluid,’’ said old Wallie, 
as he broke down with excitement and rested on the 
blood-stained grass. 

* * * * * * * 

When Landsdowne left the thicket he gained the main 
road leading northward toward Chatham. He had but a 
few shillings about him. Caring nothing for food he 
stumbled and staggered along in a half dazed condition. 
Having traveled many miles, footsore and tired he sat 
under the friendly shadows of a veteran oak, which 
spread its rugged branches over the roadside. He soon 
fell into a melancholy reverie. 

“ Such is life,” he said; “ while sailing along in placid 
waters by a peaceful shore, a sudden storm arises, driving 
us hard upon the rocks ; sitting perched up there, hungry 
and forlorn, we behold our only comfort, the distant sails 
of happiness that have past. 

He fell asleep. In his dream he saw again the assuring 
smile of Lillie Margate; her dear eyes seemed to beam 
upon him, her voice called to him : “ Charles, I know the 
truth.” 

A sunbeam through the oak leaves kissed the wanderer 
into wakefulness. As he rose to his feet the horror of the 
late accident pursued him. Looking at his watch he 
found he had slept over an hour. 


22 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


“Ah! I must move on;” and a^ain he trudged on his 
weary way. At sundown the spires and tall masts of 
vessels in the seaport city of Chatham could be seen in the 
distance. 

* * # * * * 

It was nearly 11 o’clock the night of the party at Mar- 
gate’s. The music had been dismissed, the brilliant 
lamps turned down, and a dread quietude reigned through- 
out the house. Archibald Margate remained in his library 
in a brown study. He sat in his easy chair with his hands 
shoved far into his capacious pockets. There was a look 
of calm sternness on his face, indicating a determination 
to accept the inevitable. 

The old family clock in the hall was just chiming por- 
tentiously the hour. Calling a servant he inquired if any 
news had come — the same result as his inquiry at half-past 
ten, — “None, sir.” 

Mrs. Margate had lain down on the lounge in the back 
parlor; she was being comforted by two young ladies who 
had remained for their escorts to return and accompany 
them home. 

Lillie was sitting chatting between suppressed sobs to 
some of the guests. Assuring words were being adminis- 
tered by those about her. 

Fifteen minutes later the watch-dog announced the re- 
turn of the party. No hurrahs, no shouts of joy. The 
very fact they did not cheer, the murmuring of voices 
through the night, cast a cloud over the hope cherished 
by Archibald Margate that his boy was safe. 

“ God be merciful!” he exclaimed; “ What can it be?” 

The lantern cast a light on something they were carry- 
ing on a rude stretcher made of boughs. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


23 


Margate rushed to meet them. 

“Ah! puirmeister, it’s all oop wie your puir bye,” said 
Wallie, as he hobbled along the lane, almost dead from 
fatigue. 

W e must draw the curtain down on the agonizing scene 
of a father’s, mother’s and sister’s poignant grief at the 
loss of a loved and only son and brother. 


CHAPTER V. 


FATE FROWNS. 

*' With equal foot, rich friend, impartial Fate 
Knocks at the cottage and the palace gate. ” 

As the lights of Chatham shone forth, Landsdowne ex- 
perienced that peculiar sensation that comes over one, who, 
under a cloud, enters a strange city. Lurking behind 
every corner seemed an enemy. 

As he advanced, however, he became bolder, and while 
ruminating over his trouble, he exclaimed : 

“ Never mind, Landsdowne, you have one comfort, you 
are innocent, and the weight of a guilty conscience will 
not add to your burden of misfortune. 

His feet were blistered with his heavy hunting boots. 
Feeling the pangs of hunger, he sought lodging at a small 
wayside inn, and slipping in unnoticed to the waiting-room 
told the landlord he wanted a bed and supper at once. 
After his repast he soon fell into a refreshing slumber, not 
waking till broad daylight. Leaving the inn he took the 
back streets and wandered about till he came to a news- 
stand. Purchasing a newspaper he looked it over eagerly, 
expecting to see the horror of the day before ; but not a 
word. The news had not reached Maidestone in time for 
the early press. But as he passed the telegraph office he 
was horrified to see his name posted as the murderer of 
Warren Margate. At first he felt a desire to return and 
deny the outrageous charge, but upon second thought he 
knew how futile such an effort would be. 



Proceeding to a small shop he purchased with his re- 
maining few shillings a common sailor suit. He then 
changed his clothes, and found himself in almost com]Dlete 
disguise. He walked to the dock and witnessed for an 
hour a vessel preparing to leave, her destination being 
Philadelphia, U.S. Speaking to the captain , who appeared 
a good-natured, business sort of a party, he secured a 
position, as he was short of men. 

“ I kinder like your looks,” said the American captain. 
“ Can you write a good hand? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

Entering the cabin of the Amazon , a brig-rigged vessel 
of large tonnage, Landsdowne signed his name in the 
book, James Harrow. The captain had been checking the 
invoice of the promiscuous articles which were being 
shipped aboard his craft, en route to the great Centennial 
Exposition in Philadelphia. 

“ Your some posted on writin’ and keepin’ accounts, I 
' guess? ” 

‘‘ Yes sir.” 

“ I see you scratch a good fist.” 

Harrow smiled. 

“ Now, I’ve some business up town and I will leave you 
to check ofi' them goods as they come in. Ye don’t drink, 
does ye? No? Well, I’ll bet I can depend on you. 
That goldarned drunken idiot I’ve had gets fuller than a 
tick every time we strike port and the captain went away 
talking loudly to himself. 

' The sun was shining warm, and Harrow, with his sun- 
burned face and sailor suit, could easily have been mistak- 
en for an old salt. 

He had not been keeping the account long when a man 
came walking leisurely up the dock, eyeing every one on 






26 


THE MILLIONAIKE TRAMP. 


board. He came up and sat lazily on a box near the ac- 
countant. 

Harrow was a man of iron nerve, and had the true grit 
of the ancient Landsdownes. The terrible events and 
fatigue in the past twenty-four hours had almost un- 
nerved him ; but he became self-possessed when he sus- 
pected this fellow was after information regarding him. 

“ Say, sir. Are you the captain or mate of this vessel?’^ 

“ Neither; I am a sailor.” 

Harrow went on with his tally, never looking up. 

“ We’re looking for a cove as is wanted, and I would 
like to have you keep an eye for such a one. I should 
judge about your build ; brown hair and eyes ; a young 
man of good address; of good family, and his name be 
Charles Landsdowne. We have word from headquarters 
to look after him. Now, if such a party should show up 
he might ask a passage on your craft. Now, I’ll give you 
my card, and if you see such a party you’ll get enough for 
your trouble if you let me know on the sly;” accompany- 
ing his statement with a knowing wink. “ There’s my 
card, John Squibbs, detective, 80 Front street, Chatham. 

Harrow took the card, indifferently putting it in his 
pocket; made another entry in his book, and said: 

“ All right; I’ll keep my eye on such a man.” 

Tearing a leaf out of the back of his book he dotted 
down the description. Squibbs strolled along the dock 
to another vessel. 

Harrow breathed easier as he tore the description of 
himself into atoms. 

The captain returned and shortly the Amazon sailed 
quickly out of the harbor. As Landsdowne stood on the 
deck and saw Chatham, England, his home, all that he 


THE MILLIONAIKE TRAMP. 


27 


loved and cherished on earth, melt from view, a sense of 
loneliness came over him. But he discovered that the 
Captain, although a rough fellow outwardly, was like 
an unpolished gem. When smoothed by respect and 
obedience his good qualities shone like a diamond. 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE coroner’s INQUEST. 

“ Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death.” 

The morning after the remains of Warren Margate had 
been carried home Squire Landsdowue had risen early; 
he had missed Charles, and on making inquiries of the 
servants as to his whereabouts received no satisfactory 
reply. Lindley had busied himself mending a fence back 
of the house. Walking over to him the Squire 
asked ; 

“ When did you see Master Charles last? ” 

Lindley started at the sound of his voice and almost 
dropped his hammer. 

“ Ain’t seed ’im since yesterday, sir.” 

“ Where was he then? ” 

“ A gowen out a gunnin’ for a bit o’ grouse, sir.” 

“ What time was this?” anxiously inquired the Squire. 

“ Aboot daylight; he was gowen out to yon thicket;” 
pointing over towards the woods. 

‘ ‘ Why the devil did you not tell me this before?” sternly 
demanded the Squire. 

‘‘ I specked as he’d been ’ome this good bit, for aught I 
knowed, sir. ’Pon ’onor, sir.” 

“ Well, go and hitch up Black John, do you hear? I 
must go hunt the boy. Go on!” 

As Lindley turned his head to go to the barn the Squire 
noticed his terribly black eyes and cut nose. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


29 


“Hold, sir;’’ exclaimed the Squire, suspecting some- 
thing wrong. “ Who’s been pounding you? What’s 
the trouble here? ” irately demanded the Squire. 

Lindley held his head down and mumbled, “ Nothing, 
sir.” 

“ There is! Speak, sir! ” and the color rushed to the 
Squire’s already florid cheeks. 

Lindley endeavored to reply evasively, but the Squire, 
seizing him with his powerful grasp by the collar, shook 
him into a fluent utterance by one jerk. 

“Well, sir, to tell the truth, sir, I was badly 
whipped, sir, by a party, sir.” 

“ I want the whole story. What party?” the Squire 
demanded, thinking Charles’ absence might have had 
something to do with Lindley’s eyes. 

“Well, sir, I’d been a courtin’ of Margate’s kitchen 
girl, sir, and it seems, sir, as though young Margate, sir, 
was jellus, or thereabouts, sir, or summat o’ that kind, 
and he ’saulted me, sir, and beat me most terrific.” 

“What! !” roared the Squire, “young Margate 
beat my hired help?” and the Squire’s anger at Lindley 
was turning, for the nonce, into sympathy for him, and 
bitter hatred toward all the Margate family, from ages 
back to the last born. Swearing a blue streak he donned 
his hat, grasped his heavy cane, and set out towards the 
Marofate mansion. All the venom of three distinct gen- 
erations raged in the old gentleman’s breast. 

“ The insolent, interfering, insulting, northern up- 
start brat. I’ll give him a talking to for attacking my 
hired man. My hired man,” he repeated, with an air as 
though the man was his own son. 

Reaching the gate of Oak Hill he saw a number of men 


30 


THE MILLIONAIEE TKAMP. 


walking to and fro on the lawn. Several horses, with 
buggies and carriages, were hitched near the gate. 

“ What is going on here? ” demanded the Squire of John 
Fielding, his friend, whom he saluted at the gate. 

“Haven’t you heard the awful news. Squire? ” 

Taken aback, and cooling down quickly from his 
irascible mood, the Squire stopped, wiping the perspira- 
tion from his brow. 

“ What news?” he asked. 

“ Why, poor young Margate has been murdered.” 

Behind the roughness of Squire Landsdowne’s nature 
there lurked a sympathetic disposition, and when Fielding 
spoke these words the accumulated malice disappeared like 
smoke. He had struck a chord in the Squire’s heart few 
of his associates knew he possessed. The Squire rested 
his foot on the gate and listened attentively to the horrible 
recital. 

“And, Squire, what is worse than all — man, I hate to 
tell you. You will forgive me? ” and as Fielding put his 
hand on the old man’s shoulder, he exclaimed with a voice 
full of emotion ; 

'‘'‘My God^ sir^ they suspect your boy.'*'* 

Squire Landsdowne had had a peaceful life aside from 
the usual strife accompanying his vocation. He was 
widely and favorably known as a man of unimpeachable 
honor. No stain of dishonesty or crime had ever tainted 
the family name. 

There was no blot on the family escutcheon ; therefore, 
had an earthquake opened a chasm of one thousand feet 
in front of him, he could not have been more dumb- 
founded. He clung to the fence with both hands, tremb- 
ling like an aspen leaf, his ruddy face pale to a distressing 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAIUP. 


31 


degree, his eyes fixed as though he was stone. At length 
he spoke cautiously : 

“Fielding, upon what grounds do they suspect my 
son? ” 

“Oh, Squire! my friend, I am sorry to bring such 
news to you,” answered Fielding; “ I hope, I sincerely 
hope, the suspicion is unfounded. They merely found a 
handkerchief with Charles’ name on it. Your house has 
been watched. Squire, since 11 o’clock last night; Charles 
has not returned.” 

“ Go on, tell me more, that part is true,” replied the 
Squire, becoming more cool. 

“ One barrel of Charles’ gun was found discharged, 
and, what is worse than all, the cartridge in the loaded 
barrel contained the same shot as that picked from the 
neck and brain of poor young Margate.” 

“Merciful God! is that true? ” groaned the Squire, be- 
coming agitated as the evidence of his son’s guilt seemed 
to accumulate. He clutched the gate for support; he 
reeled as if to faint. Fielding, who was a powerful man, 
steadied him and tried to console him. A^ain assuminor 
his accustomed sturdiness he started for the house. 

“ Don’t go in, for the sake of heaven, don’t.” 

“ Let me go.” 

‘‘ No, Squire, do not I pray; it will only create a scene. 
Now, like a good man, let us proceed to your home and 
discuss this horrible accusation rationally.” 

The Squire clutched Fielding’s arm and never spoke a 
word till he reached Landsdowne Hall. 

“ What time do they hold the inquest. Fielding? ” asked 
the Squire, as he sat down in the large hall and buried his 
face in his hands. 

“ At eleven o’clock.” 


32 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


“It is now ten. One hour!” The Squire riishod to 
the door and shouted, “ Hi, there!” to Lindley, who was 
still hammering at the fence. 

“You saddle ‘Royal George’ and drive to Jenkins 
& Thorpe’s law office, Maidestone. Tell Thorpe 1 want 
him at once. Time can be saved only in your going,” 
said the Squire, as he passed in to talk with Fielding. 

“It is a matter of vast importance Thorpe should be at 
the inquest. ” 

Fielding replied: “Thorpe will take three-quarters 
of an hour to get here.” 

“Yes, yes!” said the Squire, “and old Royal will go 
there in five minutes. 

Lindley, evidently pleased to get away from the Squire’s 
scrutinizing eye, jumped into the saddle and vanished like 
a flash. The hubbub, whisperings, cryings, suspicions 
and theories developed at Landsdowne Hall during the 
balance of the day can be better imagined than described. 

Lindley obeyed his master with alacrity. The ride to 
Maidestone was five miles, occupying a little over twice 
as many minutes. 

Thorpe’s always ready drag was at his office door, and 
he proceeded to Landsdowne Hall ; occupying precisely 
the balance of the important hour. 

Lindley had noticed as he flew past the Margate fence, 
a lot of people collected on the inside discussing the hor- 
ror, and a dread of impending danger impelled him to re- 
solve that, after delivering his message, never to return 
to Landsdowne Hall; so giving Royal George a slight 
rest he jogged out of Maidestone by the north-westerly 
road, leading to Seven Oaks, where he sold the old horse 
to a blacksmith, who asked him fifty questions. He then 


THE MmLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


33 


proceeded to London by rail and was soon hidden in that 
labyrinth of humanity. 

* ^ * 

It was nearly noon when the coroner sat in a back room 
of the Margate Mansion to investigate the cause of the 
death of the family’s pride. Several college chums had 
come with sadness depicted on their usually cheerful faces. 

Old Wallie, with his new corduroy suit and clean-shaven 
face, was immediately behind the coroner, catching every 
word as it dropped from this oracle of wisdom. 

The jury of neighbors being summoned sat surround- 
ing the dead form. 

Three physicians, who had just finished a post-mortem 
examination, had adjourned to another room to hold a con- 
sultation. 

Barry Thorpe, barrister, sat quietly in one corner of 
the room taking notes. 

The first witness called was John Tague, who testified 
that he had seen Warren Margate the evening prior to the 
night he was found dead. That he had consulted him 
about the best place to find grouse. That witness told 
him in the thickets. 

“ Who was present when this conversation occurred, 
Mr. Tague? ” queried the coroner. 

“ Nae one but mysel and the young meister.” 

‘‘ Are you sure? ” 

“Ah! a hand o’ neighbor Squire Landsdowne cam oop, 
but on seein’ Meister Warren he off wie hisself.” 

Old Wallie, in the rear, shook his head with a knowing 
look. 

“ What did you know about the man Bindley? ” 

“ Nothing, ’cept he bore a bad name amang the neigh- 
■ bors.” 


34 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


Mr. Thorpe was allowed to ask a question: 

“Had Mr. Warren Margate had aii}^ difficulty with this 
man Lindley of late? ’’ 

“Aye, sir; Mr. Warren whipped him o’ late, and 
blacked his ee’s.” 

“ Did you ever hear Lindley use any threats against the 
life of young Margate?” 

“Nae, not mysel, but a young girrel said — ” 

“Nevermind, sir, what she said,” interrupted Coroner 
Plump, authoritatively ; “ we will listen to that from her.” 

‘ ‘ What time was it when you saw deceased that 
evening? ” 

“ Aboot eight.” 

“ Is that all you know about the affair? ” 

“ Yees, sir,” and old Tague retired. 

Aaron Wallace testified to finding the body, the hand- 
kerchief, the gun belonging to young Margate, and also 
another gun (afterwards identified as belonging to Charles 
Landsdowne). The circumstances of the hunt for the 
body. How the spaniel followed the trail till he brought 
them to the fatal spot. A pin could be heard if dropped 
in the room when old Wallie narrated his story. Tears 
welled up in the honest old man’s eyes when he came to 
bringing back the corpse. 

Archibald Margate sat in the adjoining room. Lillie, 
her mother, and a few friends, remained up stairs. 

The testimony of the old gardener, as to finding the 
corpse, was corroborated by Albert Fielding, son of John 
Fielding, and another young man. 

Harcott, a farm hand at the Hall, was asked, at Thorpe’s 
suggestion, as to the Avhereabouts of Lindley at the time 
of the occurrence Saturday morning. 

“ Lindley and I occupied the same room, but sleeping 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


35 


in different beds. I noticed the night before, while a 
cleaning young master’s gun, he was a long time fumbling 
with it.” 

“ Were you present all the time he was supposed to be 
cleaning the gun? ” 

“ No, sir; I went off to my work.” 

“ Did he go out the next morning with Charles Lands- 
downe, to shoot? ” 

‘‘ No, sir, not with him, but he went towards the thicket 
half an hour or more before young Mr. Landsdowne 
left the house.” 

' ‘‘ What time did Lindley return to the house? ” 

“ It was about eleven o’clock.” 

“ Did he have any firearms with him? ” 

“No, sir. Not that I saw, but I heard it said he did 
try to fix up an old musket that was in the spare room 
over the kitchen lately.” 

“ Did you ever see Lindley with this old musket in his 
hands? ” 

“Yes, sir.” 

‘ • Did he have the old musket with him when he went 
towards the thicket that morning? ” 

“ I think so, but I could not swear. I saw him with 
something in his hand, but what it was I could not say. 
He was quite a distance away when I saw him.” 

“ Did the man return with the gun? ” 

“ No, sir.” 

The coroner : “ I did not understand the witness to say 
it was a gun. Mr. Thorpe, if permitted to conduct this 
examination, you must follow the record.” 

“I beg your honor’s pardon,” said Mr. Thorpe, gra- 
ciously. 


36 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


‘‘ Then did you see him return with the same article he 
carried when he went out? ’’ 

“ He returned without it, sir.” 

‘‘ Did you ever hear this man, Lindley, make a threat 
against the life of Warren Margate? ” 

At this juncture the sheriff entered. 

“Yes, sir. He said he would ‘stretch him out; ’ those 
were the words he used.” 

The coroner allowed the witness to retire, and called 
Charles Landsdowne. (Whisperings about the room.) 
No answer. 

Mr. Thorpe rose: “ I would beg leave to say, sir,” ad- 
dressing himself to the coroner, “ that Charles Lands- 
downe is not to be found. He never returned from shoot- 
ing yesterday, and while I would very much like to hear 
his evidence, I must say it seems impossible to hud him.” 
(Sensation among those present.) 

Dr. Dixie, one of the physicians, then gave his testi- 
mony, saying he, with his brother physicians, had made a 
careful examination of the wound, and agreed that death 
must have ensued very shortly after the shot. That the 
jugular vein was severed. That several pickels of shot 
and slugs had entered the brain. That the size of the 
pickels were the same as those found in the loaded barrel 
of Charles Landsdowne’s gun, which Avas mentioned by a 
prior Avitness. 

“ One of my learned brethren believes that the eye of 
a dying person Avill photograph the features of the person 
last seen, but I must say Ave cannot agree upon this sub- 
ject, as I claim that while the eye may set as a convex lens, 
OAvingto its shape, its refractory power toAvardsthe center 
prevents an impression being retained but momentarily, 


THE MILLION AIKE TRAJVIP. 


37 


and which impression would pass away at the same time 
the object was removed, like the reflection of a mirror.’" 

Dr. Small was called. 

The doctor was an exceedingly eccentric gentleman, full 
of mysterious stratagems and remarkable theories. He 
devoted much of his invaluable time to making discover- 
ies — that is, making the attempt. He never did discover 
anything, except that his theories were strictly impracti- 
cable. He hunted in the woods for herbs which he boiled 
down and experimented upon for weeks, with no benefi- 
cial result. He implicitly believed that the retina of the 
human eye of a person murdered would photograph the 
person committing the act of murder, and numerous other 
as equally absurd theories. Dr. Small was what is com- 
monly called a “crank,” but being a man of many good 
characteristics otherwise, he was permitted a hearing at 
every coroner’s inquest, which he would surely attend, if 
possible. The Doctor, being sworn, stated that he be- 
lieved his “ theory,” as his learned friend had designated 
it, but not as a theory — as a fact, practicable beyond all 
question— and he would, if time were allowed, prove his 
assertion by the reproduction of the face now photo- 
graphed in the eye of Warren Margate. 

The coroner objected : I cannot devote any time to such 
experiments; my duty is to ascertain the manner of this 
young gentleman’s death, and I refuse peremptorily to 
enter into the discussion. 

The worthy coroner’s statement being final. Dr. Small 
left the room, entered the yard and was immediately sur- 
rounded by a number of superstitious listeners whom he 
regaled with his sensational topic. 

After the examination of several minor witnesses, the 


38 


THE mLLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


jury retired. In half an hour they brought in the follow- 
ing verdict : 

We, the jury, find that Warren Margate, eldest son of 
Archibald Margate, gentleman farmer, residing near 
Maidestone, Kent, came to his death on the 5th day of 
October, 1876, by a gun-shot wound caused by Charles 
Landsdowne or William Lindley,or both, and recommend 
that they be held to the next assizes for murder.” 

Warrants for their arrest were immediately issued to 
the sheriff. Lillie Margate, who had walked down stairs 
to procure a drink of water for her mother, heard this last 
order of the coroner. She dropped the glass, and catch- 
ing the banisters managed to prevent herself from reel- 
ing over. Those in attendance soon dispersed. 

* * * * * * 

After a short but stormy trip the Amazon floated up 
the Delaware river. A brilliant scene met Darrow’s gaze. 
Vessels gaily bedecked with the flags of all nations, 
and Philadelphia in all its stately magnificence. He was 
on deck preparing some invoices for the captain and felt a 
cloud moved from his heart. 

‘‘ I am in a new world, three thousand miles away from 
the dreadful occurrence in which I am so prominently and 
still so innocently connected,” he said, ruminating. 

The captain was giving orders to the pilot. The sailors, 
always happy coming into port, were singing their wild 
cadences, which added additional harmony to the scene, as 
the sails were lowered, the deck cleared, and the Amazon 
tied up securely to the dock. 

Captain Merriam, after transacting some business con- 
cerning the vessel, invited Darrow to go up to the Expo- 
sition. 

In this year, 1876, the Centennial Exposition was in 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


39 


full blast ill Philadelphia. One of the vessel owners, Mr. 
Mason, whom they met at the office, accompanied them 
as they rode toward the ground. 

“ The first exposition of this character was held,” said 
Mason, “ in France, in 1798, at the suggestion of Marquis 
d’ Avege.” 

“ Yes, the French are undoubtedly entitled to being 
called the originators of national fairs, but as an English- 
man I must claim the idea of world’s fairs originated with 
us. Prince Albert, our Queen’s husband, propounded the 
idea of holding universal exhibitions in 1850. This took 
place in Hyde Park, London, in a building called the 
Crystal Palace,” replied Harrow. 

“Yes, my father was there,” added Mason. 

“I ’spect that was the startin’ pint for all the big 
world’s fairs,” chimed in the captain; “ this Philadelphy 
one’s ben bruin since 1870.” 

“ The sum of $8,500,000 has been raised to make this 
one a success,” said Mason. 

As they entered the wonderful buildings, Harrow be- 
came impressed with the enterprise of the American peo- 
ple. 

They passed through the main building, memorial hall, 
the art gallery, and looked upon the vast collection of 
articles from all corners of the earth. 

As evening approached. Mason left the company, hav- 
ing promised Captain Merriam to secure a situation for 
young Harrow. 

* * * * * ^ 

Harrow soon found himself a clerk for a large manu- 
facturing company whose goods were on exhibition. But 
as days passed he became convinced of the danger of 
meeting some one from Maidestone or London, who would 


40 


THE MILLIONAIEE TKAMP. 


identify him , as by reason of his position he was oblig'ed 
to resume citizen’s clothes in place of his sailor’s jacket. 

To his horror, one day, whom should he behold walking 
up the aisle in which he was stationed, but Mr. Bigley, 
an intimate acquaintance from Maidestone. Asking leave 
of his fellow clerk, Darrow retreated from his position. 
Passing out through the building by another way he left 
the city. 

Next morning he was in Washington, where he secured 
work in a freight-house, rolling barrels. Here, although 
the work was arduous, he experienced safety. On Sun- 
days he strolled about the public parks. Once, at Arling- 
ton Heights, he was reading the inscription on one of the 
soldier’s graves, when a voice greeted him, which chilled 
him to the bones. It was that of a merchant residing in 
London who had visited at Landsdowne Hall. 

“Did you come from England, sir?” the merchant 
asked. 

“ Originally I did.” 

“Oh! I beg your pardon, sir. Your name is — ” 

“ James Darrow.” 

“Ah! then I owe an apology,” replied the merchant, 
lifting his hat. 

Darrow walked leisurely away, leaving the merchant, 
his wife and daughter, discussing this object of interest. 

When out of speaking distance Darrow paused and 
earnestly discussed the situation in his mind. 

Looking down from the hill he saw the grand old 
building, the Capitol ; the beautiful avenues, the stately 
homes, the rich foliage, bright with autumnal tints, and 
he longed for his native land. There existed a loneliness 
in his aching heart experienced only by those who have 
by some necessity wandered away from the scenes of their 


THE MILLION^URE TRAJMP. 


41 


boyhood, and the familiar and welcome faces of their 
friends. 

He knew to remain in any public haunt for any length 
of time was fatal, so to move from place to place was his 
only hope, and by the mere circumstance of fortune never 
meet those who would recognize him. 

“ Our friends. Oh, when dire misfortune overtakes us,, 
please deliver us from our friends,” he said aloud, as he 
turned down a retired and shady street of the capital. 
Getting his small parcel of things together he boarded an 
evening train for the West. 

As the Baltimore and Ohio train* swept around the hills, 
along the valleys, through tunnels and rocky chasms, he 
compared the ride with his prospective life. Many a jog, 
many a turn. In life’s journey we must pass through the 
damp tunnels of trouble as well as jump the silver 
streams of happiness. True, joy and sorrow are not 
often found long apart, but through some subtle and 
mysterious circumstance grave Sorrow leaves his cheerful 
sister, Joy, so far behind, she is a long time catching up. 

Looking out of the car window, his only comfort was 
in the memory of a pale face, which seemed to look up 
through the moonlit valleys as he half dozed. Awakened 
by the sudden stopping of the train he thought: “ There 
. is one hope. I can some day establish my innocence to 
Lillie. She will listen and believe. Bless her! Could 
I but look again into those lovelit eyes, my guiding 
stars, the future would not look so hopelessly dark. As time 
wore on, the daylight broke the monotony and dreariness 
of a long night’s ride, and he found himself at the railway 
station of a busy manufacturing town. Alighting, he 
made his way very hurriedly to a small hotel near by. 

He looked about for work. But there had been 


42 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRA3IP. 


a long: strike at the mills. Idlers were assembled 
on the streets, lazily conversing. The Ohio river ran 
sluggishly past. On either side thereof were high hills, 
the town being built on the bluffs along the river bank. 
Everything assumed the quietness of a general holiday. 
When the mills were in operation the town was a world 
of work and noise. Huge volumes of smoke from 
the high chimneys, together with the forks of lurid 
flames from the blast furnaces changed the place into a 
seething mass of mechanism. The manufacturing head- 
quarters of nails the world over — Wheeling, West Vir- 
ginia. 

Harrow soon discovered his mistake, as the present was 
no time to secure work. Groing from place to place with 
the same result, “ Nothing, sir,” his scanty purse soon 
depleted, his prospective chances for obtaining employ- 
ment became alarming. Braving the situation, however, 
he determinedly made another eflbrt. 

Success came. He obtained work moving in some bars 
of iron left outside one of the mills at the time of the 
strike. He had not been engaged long when two or more 
half drunken, surly strikers, came up and asked him 
several questions. Paying no attention to their demands 
he continued his hard labor. Soon a stone was thrown, 
then a large iron bolt dropped savagely within two feet of 
him, evidently thrown by some passing striker. 

“ The foreman of the mill, passing by, explained to the 
mob quickly gathering: “Boys, he is only a tramp 
working for a shilling or two. Let him alone. He’s only 
taking in a few bars left out when the mill closed.” 

“ Well, d n him,” said one semi-drunken voice, “ let 

him hurry up or he’ll get his head knocked in.” 

Harrow, not accustomed to the full significance of a 


THE MILLION.VIRE TRAMP. 


43 


strike, and surprised at this absurd condition of affairs, 
replied: “Gentlemen, I am a stranger here trying to 
work my way along ; surely a poor fellow like me cannot 
influence your strike unfavorably.” 

‘ ‘ Let the boy alone !” shouted two or three respectable 
looking men. 

“Let him alone and go home, you fellers,” shouted one 
of the leaders of the strike. 

The crowd soon dispersed and Darrow toiled on with 
his heavy load. 


CHAPTER VIL 


A GREAT AMERICAN TRAMP. 

“ Unpitied, uncared for, he wanders alone, 

A creature of God, forsaken, unknown.” 

Darrow, having finished his job, was enabled to pro- 
ceed further westward. On the second-class car beside 
him sat an old man whose wrinkled face had evidently 
seen better days. He traveled on a pass issued by the mayor 
to rid the city of a pauper. The aged mendicant had 
taken the train supperless and was resting his tired head 
against the corner of the hardwood car. The atmosphere 
of this coach was laden with all the perfumes of a tramp’s 
boarding house. It was a second, third, fourth or fifth-class 
car, according to the length of the ride and the odor of the 
occupants. Several smoking, greasy, and half drunken 
workmen filled the seats. 

“ Well, indeed, this is rather crude company,” conjec- 
tured Darrow, as he gazed about him. Rather fancying 
the profile of the old man in preference to the others, he 
retained his seat. 

“ Old man, are you going far? ” 

“Well, sir,” raising his head from its position and 
staring at Darrow, “ I don’t know that I am going any- 
where;” and he leaned back again. After several vain 
attempts to draw him into a conversation, Darrow aban- 
doned the attempt. 

As an Englishman is rarely found far from lunch, Dar- 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


45 


row pulled scientifically from his outside pocket half a 
dozen ham sandwiches. The old companion sat upright 
and looked at them with a hungry and wistful stare. 

“ You’ve come prepared, ” he said sadly, as his large 
eyes wandered from the edibles to Darrow’s pleasant face. 

“ Have one, old fellow?” 

“Thanks, sir; thanks, sir, I’m in luck; ” as he opened 
his long bony fingers to accept the gift. 

Dividing his meal equally, another peculiar phase of a 
well-bred Englishman, Darrow sat and half enjoyed the 
frugal supper with his new-found friend. 

“ What is your business, my old sir? ” asked Darrow. 

“ My business? Ah! ha! ” and he laughed an old-time 
laugh, shorn of its real merriment. 

“ I’m one of them. ” He knowingly winked at Darrow, 

“ One of what? I do not comprehend.” 

Leaning his poor old head up to Darrow he whis pered 
so as not to be overheard by those in the adjacent seats, 
“ I’m a tramp! That’s all, sir.” 

The words jarred with peculiar significance on Darrow’s 
ear. 

“A tramp, old man? How long have you been en_ 
gaged in this worldly occupation?” 

“Forty years !” 

Then the aged pauper, gaining confidence by the relish 
of the sandwiches, grew talkative, giving a brief history of 
his checkered life. 

THE tramp’s story. 

“ I was born in New England sixty-three years ago ; ed- 
ucated for the ministry when about twenty- four, but soon 
after became dissipated and squandered everything my 
kind old father gave me.” 


4(3 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


As Darrow looked into his face he noticed a strange 
expression upon his wrinkled features. 

‘ ‘ I left college and led for years a roving life. By my 
actions I soon discouraged my parents from any further 
attempt to reclaim me. 

“ I became a wanderer, having tried hundreds of ways 
of obtaining employment. I have traversed the globe, 
been in wars, worked at many trades during my younger 
days, but latterly I have knocked about alone, forsaken, 
a tired old tramp. My aching bones can find no rest. 

“lam moved about from place to place. ‘ Move on, old 
man!’ are my instructions. I have obeyed them, God 
knows, for twenty years. Village to village, town to 
town, city to city, footsore and forlorn. The same old 
cry comes alike from the officer of the law, the merchant, 
the capitalist, the mechanic or the mayor: ‘Move on! 
Move on I Old man, move on !’” 

Growing intensely interested in this wretched history 
Darrow besought his companion to tell him more. 

“I have been all through my life an honest man; that 
is, I have never committed a theft,” continued the tramp; 
never to my knowledge have I done injury to a living 
soul.” 

Darrow experienced a compassion for his old friend 
awakening in his breast as he felt the tears spring to his 
eyes. 

“ Sorely have I been tempted to commit crime in my 
dire necessity so as to secure food and shelter, even within 
the walls of a prison; but when it came to the committal 
of the act, I shrank from it as I would from an adder. In 
fact, it does not run in our family blood to steal.” He 
smiled triumphantly. 

“ The times are now hard, ’tis true. This is a period of 




THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


47 


the world’s history when millionairs become 'paupers ^ when 
the tide of adversity runs against the rich as well as poor. 

I am no worse off', never having had anything, than the 
man whose income of hundreds of thousands has been de- 
pleted to a pittance.” 

“Ah! I see, my dear old friend, you are quite a philoso- - 
pher respecting your lot,” remarked Darrow. 

Not having secured so attentive an audience for many 
years, the old gentleman became excited at Darrow’ s 
complimentary remark and exclaimed, “ There were times 
when I rather enjoyed myself strolling about the country 
breathing the fresh air, scenting the clover from the mead- 
ows, and sleeping soundly under the pine trees. Why, 
sir, there is a world of freedom in certain phases of a tramp’s 
life in summer, but when winter comes, cold, bitter win- 
tv?r — ” here he drew up his rheumatic limbs and yawned, 

“ ah I sir, that is what’s hard on us.” 

“ What could have reduced you, a man of intelligence 
and education, to such an unfortunate condition? ” 

“ The same old cause, my boy, recklessness and care- 
lessness.” 

“ Do you drink? ” inquired Darrow. 

“ Well, a little. Well, to speak the truth to you, I 
have drunk too much, entirely too much.” And again 
the old man pulled himself out for another yawn. 

“ For forty years you have led this life? ” asked Darrow, 
“What a long line of misery the debauched old wretch 
has wound round his creaking form.” 

“ I have tried,” he continued, “ to avoid this thing al- 
together; at times I have succeeded, but, my God, sir, no 
man knows but one of experience, the power required to 
refrain.” 


48 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


“ I was sleeping in a barn last winter by the side of a 
horse ’’ — 

‘ ‘ What ! Do you mean it? ” ejaculated Darrow, horri- 
fied ; “ beside a horse? ” 

“ Why yes, sir, that was a comfortable berth for me 
and I thanked the owner of the horse sincerely. ’’ 

“Go on,” said Darrow, half angrily, the while looking 
searchingly into his face, doubting the veracity of his 
statement. 

“ Yes, sir,” he continued, ‘‘ and it was far warmer than 
many a place I’ve slept in during my life.” 

“ Go on,” said Darrow, listening carefully, fearing he 
should lose a word. 

“ One day I had a great temptation. The gentleman 
who owned the horse sent me to collect a bill — it was ten 
dollars.” And the old tramp momentarily assumed an air 
of importance at having such vast confidence placed in him. 

“ He gave me a receipted bill. I had not had a drink 
for two days.” This also was said rather triumphantly. 

“ I tell you there was a gnawing down here,” placing his 
bony hand upon his stomach. 

“ I went straight to the office of the man who owed the 
bill. He paid it promptly.” 

“ Well? ” said Darrow. 

“Walking back I had to pass three saloons. Heaven 
on earth! I skipped the first two. Do you believe me, 
I was an hour passing the third. I had that money. It 
was a paper ten. It weighed a ton. I held on to the 
fence. I scratched till the nails on my right hand were 
sore. I held the ten dollar note in my left hand, tightly, 
thus; ” and he clenched his poor thin fist and held it trem- 
blingly before Dai row’s face. “ I felt a supernatural 
power draw me towards that saloon door. The perspira- 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAIVIP. 


49 


tion fell thick and fast from me. I gasped for air. I 
looked at my left hand ; it was as pale as snow, and seemed 
to grin at, and deride me. I became faint, sat down by 
the fence and rested. For a long time, nearly an hour, 
I was riveted to the spot. My God! sir, in that hour 
what I suffered. All the torments of hell passed in pan- 
oramic procession before me. Fiends and fmps mocked 
me, coaxed me, ridiculed me, but stealing did not run in 
my blood. I arose, and pulling myself along the fence, 
inch by inch, I got back.’’ 

“What did the man say? ” inquired Darrow. 

‘ ‘ He was mad at my delay. He swore at me, called me 
a d d old fraud, but gave me fifty cents.” 

“ What did you do with that? ” 

“ I ran like a deer to the nearest saloon and drank so 
eagerly that the barkeeper remarked: ‘You old cuss, 
you must have been tied up in jail for thirty days.’ ” 

“ And so your whole life has been wrecked through 
this fault? ” 

‘ ‘ That’s about it. I have seen friend after friend depart. 
Have lost five hundred situations. Have been kicked out 
of houses, barns and pig-stys. I have not been fit company 
for hogs and cattle for over twenty years — twenty years ; ” 
and the aged tramp held down his trembling head in sor- 
row. 

“Merciful heaven! say no more,” pleaded Darrow, 
who, leaning his head over the back of the seat in front 
soon fell into a troubled sleep. 

It was gray dawn when the train came whistling and 
puflSng into the station at Chicago, the wonderful me- 
tropolis whose outstretched arms are open to embrace the 
refugees and wayward wanderers from foreign and do- 
mestic climes. 


50 


THE MILLIONAIKE TKAMP. 


“Old Tom” had many a time come back to this 
bustling place to beg and tramp about. 

“ If you can assure me you will only drink when I 
allow you,” said Darrow, to his associate, “ I will get 
work and help you.” 

“God bless you, sir! I know you are good. I will 
promise, and I will choke to death before I break my 
promise to you.” 

Old Tom grasped Barrow’s hand as he spoke, and they 
turned into a cheap lodging-house. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

THE “ FLOSOPHER.” 

“Adversity’s sweet milk— Philosophy.” 

Old Tom had an acquaintance, a fellow tramp, with 
whom he had often strolled about the parks and loitered 
by the lake upon sunny days. He was known among the 
cheap lodging dives, police stations, and his fellow pau- 
pers, as “ de Flosopher.” 

He was by no means the physical wreck one would ex- 
pect from twenty years’ exposure to starvation and 
drunken debauchery. His eye was clear and bright except 
when emerging from a prolonged spree. His skin was 
fair and his muscles well developed. This individual 
was the intellectual peer of the noted politicians of the day. 
A thorough scholar, fluent speaker, and one of the finest 
penmen to be found. In an Eastern city, twenty years 
before the present writing, he was a young journalist of 
great promise. Having a thorough collegiate educa- 
tion, and having matriculated at a leading university, 
ranking the highest in mathematics, but one, since the 
foundation of the institution, he was looked upon by 
his acquaintances as a paragon of promise. 

The Philosopher, meeting Old Tom and Harrow this 
calm Sunday morning when they were about to take their 
accustomed walk, to see white-sailed ships come and go, 
begged leave to accompany them. 


52 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


Sitting clown on a timber pile they enjoyed the warm 
and welcome sun, which had risen high in the heavens. 

The Philosopher opened the conversation, thus: 

“ What do you think of the new administration, Tom? 

Old Tom, who was not at all interested in politics, and 
suffering from a backache, made no reply, but looked 
languidly up at Darrow to answer. 

“I must admit,” said Darrow, who took Tom’s hint, 
‘‘ that American politics are new to me, being a foreigner. 
But I believe, from all I can see and learn, the country seems 
to be in an excellent state of political harmony at present.” 

“ I am a free trader,” said the Philosopher, evidently 
proposing to draw the stranger into a conversation. 

Old Tom smiled as he scanned the dilapidated wardrobe 
of the philosophical gentleman. 

“Indeed!” replied Darrow. 

“ Yes, sir. At one time in the history of this country 
I was a sturdy protectionist, but from a careful study of 
the situation, and from the fact that the word free trade 
now expresses the most important and fundamental truth 
in political economy, I have changed my views.” 

Old Tom smiled again with an effort. 

“Then, Mr. Philosopher,” said Darrow, “you expect 
to make political economy an exact science? But is it not 
also a fact that there are thousands of learned men who 
have made protection a study, who will offer apparently 
sound reasoning that free trade would be detrimental to 
the interests of this country? ” 

“ No doubt of it. Great minds disagree. And it is 
also a fact that certain modes of trade and legal enact- 
ments, which have been in force for years, and which were 
believed necessary to the welfare of the country, a change 
having been made in them the contrary has been proven. 


THE MmLIONAIRE TRAjMP. 


53 


It is necessary to keep this distinction in view,” said the 
philosopher tramp, placing one dirty hand upon the other, 
“ because there are many laws not contrary to the spirit 
of free trade which interfere with buying and selling ; for 
instance, it is unlawful to deal in slaves, because we do 
not acknowledge the right of one human being to be the 
owner of another.” 

“ There have been many attempts made by governments 
to regulate trade,” said Darrow, ‘‘ but their success 
has been questionable.” 

“ Yes,” responded the Philosopher, eagerly, glad of a 
chance for discussion. 

“These attempts are divided into two great classes: 
one prohibiting the exportation of commodities, the 
other encouraging exportation and prohibiting or discour- 
aging importation. The former was the old rule in En- 
gland.” 

“Your country, is it not?” the tramp respectfully 
asked, eyeing Darrow. 

“You are right, sir,” Darrow replied, wondering at 
the man’s perception. 

■ “Yes, it was also the rule in other countries,” the 
Philosopher continued. “ England yielded to its converse 
and it is maintained there now that exportation is the 
source of wealth, and importation is a wasting of a na- 
tion’s substance. See? If we pay for the goods we im- 
port by bills of exchange, these bills represent goods ex- 
ported, otherwise they would be paid. If we pay for 
goods in bullion it is the same thing. You may look at 
this question from two standpoints; either may appear 
right, but does it not appear to you that in a country 
like this, which can manufacture every possible species of 
merchandise, that free trade would be beneficial? ” 


54 


THE MH^LIONAIKE TKAMP. 


Darrow scanned the Philosopher, whose great toe pro- 
truded from his right shoe, while his left foot was encased 
in a top boot of uncertain age and style. 

Old Tom had stretched out on a board and had fallen 
into a doze at this, to him, exceedingly uninteresting con- 
versation. , 

“This is becoming a great manufacturing country,’^ 
said Darrow, “ and with the inventive ingenuity of its cit- 
izens, and ability to secure unlimited labor at a low price, 
it must become wonderfully rich.” 

“ Oh, yes; rich ! But few people know, or apparently 
care to investigate, the two growing evils that will, in 
from fifty to one hundred years, wipe this country from 
the face of the earth,” said the Philosopher, pushing one 
hand through the bottom of his coat pocket. 

“ What are they? ” Darrow asked, surveying this queer 
individual again. 

“Oh! don’t you know? Why, whisky and politics, 
or a mixture of both.” 

“ Then you don’t believe in whisky? ” said Darrow, 
rather sarcastically. 

“No; it is, in my mind, the great national curse and 
question of the day, and I assert,” said the tramp, earnestly, 
as he shifted his position on the rough board, “ that the 
Americans, as a race, will dwindle down to puny and insig- 
nificant beings unless some great change is made in the next 
five or ten generations. The controlling power of this 
terrible foe is in with the enemy. The saloon and whisky 
element in the United States is fast obtaining power over 
the church and state. The larger cities are all now cap- 
tured and in the hands of thieves and whisky pirates. 
The aldermen and all manner of small politicians are con- 
trolled by the whisky element. Large cities are plun- 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRARIP. 


55 


dered and taxed to keep this piratical gang in power, and 
the country generally is fast losing its grip on law and 
order.’' 

“Why, you surprise me,” said Darrow, “ such a state 
of affairs does not seem to exist to the casual observer 
passing through; on the other hand, prosperity, virtue 
and contentment seem to reign throughout the land.” 

“ My friend,” said the tramp, “ you are innocent. You 
have not had occasion to investigate this matter as I have. 
Plere; look at me. Look at my condition. I am a man of 
good birth, good education, able-bodied and willing to 
work. Look at my life for twenty years past. I tell you 
if there is a God in heaven he must have lost all inter- 
est in men of my stamp.” 

The Philosopher was now standing up and had raised 
his right hand eloquently towards the sky. 

“ Why, you must blame no one but yourself, my poor 
friend,” said Darrow, rebuking him. 

“That is very well to say, and perhaps right. You 
think I don’t want to reform, and don’t want to work. 
That I am lazy and good for nothing. Well, in some re- 
spects 3^ou are correct in your surmise, but listen; let me 
picture a little of my past to your mind. 

“ I have worked for five years in a slaughter house at 
the stock yards up to my ankles in blood, sticking pigs ; 
worked with the lowest specimens of mankind; slept 
with men who are strangers to cleanliness ; drank beer and 
debauched with men who would^stab you to death for one 
dollar. I have done this because my sense of pride would 
not allow me to carry my drunkenness and my disgust- 
ing appearance among men with whom I should associate. 
I used to reform once every three months ; I would soon 
be led back to my old habit. Every election, every public 


56 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


holiday, every Christmas, every New Year, everyday that 
would bring to me pleasant recollections, would prove my 
downfall. After fighting this thing for many years I gave 
up.” 

“Why did you not join some church society, or become 
acquainted with some good person who would assist you? ” 

“Oh, that may do for some, but not for me. I presume 
it is hereditary. Churches, I have no love for. The aris- 
tocratic members of our great churches are cold and ego- 
tistical. Churches have no use for poverty-stricken 
wretches like me. Good person ! Why, I have been 
helped by hundreds ; I have been sent to inebriate asylums ; 
kept confined in prison hundreds of times. I know what 
is right and just as well as any man living. I blame no 
one. I live on year after year the same. The same ! ” 

“It is terrible, indeed, and so strange! I never heard 
of such a desperate case. How could such a clear mind 
become so low? ” said Harrow. “ Do you never expect to 
get out of this horrible rut; this wretched manner of 
life? ” 

“ That is a question I myself have often tried to solve. I 
have awakened in the morning full of ambition, determined 
to make a change ; and I would succeed. I got so far in 
my resolution one time that I became foreman in a fac- 
tory. Then I became book-keeper and manager of the 
office. I had saved up over a thousand dollars. One 
night I met an old companion ; he coaxed me into a saloon. 
The same story. The keeper of the place was an aider- 
man ; a great democratic politician; now he is running for 
congress; ‘The workingman’s friend! ’ ” the tramp hissed 
through his teeth, sarcastically. “ This ruler of our city 
persuaded me, taunted me, and then dared me to take a 
drink. Next day I lost my position. In two weeks I 


THE ]\HLEIONAIRE TRA]\U». 


57 


lost every cent I had, and was a raving sot in the city 
Bridewell. I have now settled down to the philosophical 
life you see. I know there is no hope, and I will go on 
like Old Tom there to the end.” 

Old Tom roused at the mention of his name, and looked 
up, then fell back again into a sleep. 

“ Then you consider yourself past redemption en- 
tirely?” said Darrow, earnestly. 

“Yes, most assuredly so. If you were to lock me up 
for thirty days, behind bars, as the case has been, on the 
day I gained my liberty, I would, perhaps, resolve to 
drink no more. I might fight against this feeling for one 
day or two ; the third I would give way to the craving and 
would beg a drink. I tell you it is all up with our old 
friend and me; we are past the lecture-course days, and 
have settled down to that condition of life where the in- 
ward promptings of the conscience have lost their eflfect. 
For your kindness in listening to me I am indeed 
grateful; but just now I feel the craving coming on and 
must leave. I did a job yesterday for that gentleman,” 
the Philosopher said, ironically, “ a leading county com- 
missioner,” and here the tramp pointed to a low groggery 
back of the lumber pile, near the dock. 

“ Indeed! ” said Darrow. “ What was it? ” 

“ I cleaned out his cesspool. He paid me fifty cents 
and promised me one drink per day for one week.” 

“ Generous and noble man!” exclaimed Old Tom, who 
had risen to a sitting posture. “ A lucky job. Philosopher, 
wasn’t it?” and Old Tom looked thirsty at the thought. 

The tramp raised his rimless hat and hastened away. 

“ Tom, would it kill you to entirely stop drinking?” 
said Darrow, turning to his old friend. 

“ I think so, my dear boy, but I will do as I said, Mr. 


58 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


Darrow. I’ll choke to death unless you allow me one,” 
Old Tom said, resignedly. 

“ I will do what is right, won’t I? You are not half so 
badly off as the Philosopher, Tom, are you?” and Darrow 
looked at the retreating figure of that peculiar individ- 
ual. 

‘ ‘Ah, No. I have a friend, a kind, good friend, and the 
Philosopher has none.” 

Darrow helped the old man limp slowly towards his 
home and supper. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FORTUNE SMILES. 

“ Good fortune and bad are equally necessary to man, to fit him to meet the 
contingencies of this life.” 

The second Sunday after the coroner’s inquest, Lillie 
Margate, clad in deep mourning and heavily veiled, at- 
tended services in St. Mark’s. Her mother, ill since the 
recent tragedy, remained at home. 

The always impressive litany seemed to Lillie this 
Sunday to be doubly so. 

“ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord,” she respond- 
ed to a section of the solemn prayer, exceedingly appro- 
priate in her affliction. Her brother and he whom she be- 
lieved she loved, both gone. Her conscience told her she 
could do nothing for the dead, but she could pray for the 
living. She was thinking of the face of an enemy — 
one whom she had been taught to hate, but, contrarily, 
was learning to love. That face was gone, perhaps for- 
ever. Gone from the tall, old-fashioned pew. Burning 
tears welled up in her beautiful eyes, and she fervently 
prayed for light. 

‘ ‘ Teach me to reason, O Lord ! Is it human reason- 
ing that a noble-minded man, with all the generous im- 
pulses of humanity, with honesty and kindness beaming 
forth from his face, could commit such a dastardly 
crime? Then nothing is safe; nothing is right.” She 
prayed again for an answer, and as Lillie arose from her 


60 


THE MHiLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


knees a load had risen from her heart, and as the tones of 
the organ dismissed the congregation on that bright 
Easter Sunday, and she passed down the aisle, she ex- 
perienced a singular relief, and such happiness came over 
her as she had not known since the pleasant hours prior to 
poor Warren’s fate. 

From th'it hour the question of Charles Landsdowne’s 
guilt was determined. He was not guilty, 

“ Now,” she said, and the lovely young girl had a will 
of her own, “ I will spend years to save Charles from this 
terrible charge. Poor Charles!” she sighed, and when a 
girl pities she half loves. ‘‘ My darling!” she whispered, 
and then the tears did indeed come, but they were the 
transparent tears of joy. “ I am sure I must love him.” 
She was driving home in the family carriage alone. 

There are times in the life of every one when they are 
in some woful distress over the result of something that 
happened, or it may be caused by some apprehension of 
disaster. This feeling hangs like a pall over the mind. 
At a given time, a sudden thought, an impulse, an occur- 
rence, or whatever it may be called, the shadow vanishes. 
The heart feels relieved, the brain clear, and no amount 
of brooding over the same supposed trouble will bring 
back the shadow again. It will be afterwards ascertained 
that the suspicion which caused the nightmare was un- 
founded. On the other hand, should it be proved after- 
wards that there was cause for this apjirehensiveness, the 
mysterious incubus had never lifted. 

Sailors’ wives, who live along the rocky coasts by the 
sea, frequently experience this portentous awe upon the 
approach of a storm. After the ocean has calmed down, 
if they become light-hearted and gay, they know that 
their Jack is safe. If not, the pale, sad face of the patient. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


61 


faithful wife, her reticence and retirement, tell the neigh- 
boring women of her kind, that Annie may soon have 
sad, sad news. 

When President Garfield lingered several long weeks 
under the shadow of the grim visitor, and the honest 
prayers of fifty million souls soared to the realm above, 
the grandest tribute ofiered to the Almighty since the 
world began, the suspense of the nation remained, the 
All wise Being denied the application. 

At any rate, some strange, magnetic influence seems 
to pass from one to another at times, affecting a church 
full of people, a hall full of patriots, or a nation alike, 
for when Lillie Margate that day passed out of the church 
door, she heard many people whispering about the “ hor- 
rible affair at Margate’s.” 

She overheard one aged, white haired gentleman, state 
emphatically: “Tush! tush! I will never believe it, 
never in the world. Landsdowne’s son is as innocent as 
the child unborn.” 

She overheard one gossiping old maid who, for forty 
years, had been the reigning terror of the congregation ; 
a believer in all manner of signs and wonders, also every 
conceivable superstition invented since the days of the 
ffood, say: 

“No, indeed, Charles is innocent. He was in my class 
for two years. A darling boy. They’ll find it out ; they’ll 
find it out. Wait till the fall of next year, only wait.” 

This last eavesdrop influenced poor Lillie greatly and 
favorably, and whether it was occasioned by the power 
of prayer, or that mighty, invisible influence, truth, or 
the spiritual form of Warren Margate whispering in the 
ears of church goers, we have no means of ascertaining. 
However, it was an undisputable fact that every one who 


62 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAIVIP. 


had given the subject of Warren Margate’s murder a 
thought had gone to their homes that day firm in the con- 
viction that Warren was not slain by Charles Landsdowne, 
the leading convert being the sweet girl, who from that 
day abandoned her gloominess and became once more her- 
self. 

Lillie now longed for the time when she could set out 
in search of evidence pertaining to Charles’ innocence. 
Although she made her mother her confidante in all matters 
connected with her social life, this one secret, her undying 
admiration for the Squire’s son, was hidden from the 
world in her pure heart. Ambition may be fed and satis- 
fied for a time with patience, but sooner or later it will 
make a brave attempt to consummate its desire. Lillie 
had never deceived her mother, but she felt that she must 
clear up the mysterious murder of her brother, and dem- 
onstrate to the world that Charles Landsdowne was inno- 
cent. She would by doing this accomplish a great achieve- 
ment, and when a woman makes up her mind that a just 
person, especially one whom she loves or highly esteems, 
is accused unjustly, she will move the earth to establish 
that fact. 

Miss Margate had a young lady friend in Chatham who 
had invited her to attend a church sociable to be held at 
the magnificent residence of her father, Mr. Woodruff. 

As chance would have it, this gentleman was part 
owner of the Amazon, the very vessjl in which Lands- 
downe sailed to America. Mr. Woodruff was looking up 
some correspondence in relation to this vessel, and 
laughing heartily over the peculiarities of its Yankee 
captain. 

“Here, girls, let me read this to you,” he said, as Belle 
and Lillie entered his office. “ I will read the postscript, 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


63 


which is a fair sample: ‘ If it hadn’t ben for that peart 
Englishman I picked up in the docks the day I left, we’d 
a had a goldarned nice time a gettin’ them Brittaner goods 
through the customs. By jingo, they wanted to charge 
the value of the hull vessel. This young feller was smarter 
than chain lightnin’ and the way he flopped them fellers 
over on prices was immense. I’ll be bio wed if ever I’ll 
call Englishmen green eny more. He saved us a heap o’ 
trouble. He was one of those healthy, innocent lookin’ 
critters as would make a man b’lieve enything. Bully for 
the raw recruit.’ ” 

‘^This captain, although illiterate, is a mighty good 
seaman and a fine fellow,” said Mr. Woodrufi', folding up 
the letter. 

“ What day did this boat leave Chatham? ” Lillie re- 
plied, indifferently. 

“ September 18th.” 

Lillie turned a little pale. “The very date,” she 
whispered to herself. “ Honest face. It may be he.” 

Time passed on, and Lillie, with this slight clew, de- 
cided to visit America as soon as she could. She never 
breathed her determination to a soul, but her father had 
often talked of visiting that country, and one morning at 
breakfast he ^pressed his intention of sailing at the first 
opportunity, taking the family with him. 

* * * * * * * 

One year after the occurrence in the thicket back of 
Landsdowne Hall, Lillie was reading the London Times, 
when her eye accidentally wandered over the following 
paragraph : 

‘ ‘ Arrested near London bridge, charged with highway 
robbery: Tom Hawkes, alias Lindley, alias Brooks, a 
noted robber and supposed murderer. Booked at the 


64 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


Bond street station. A long term in prison is promised 
by the police.” 

The name Bindley caused her to read the item again and 
again. She sought old Wallie in the garden. 

“ Wallie,” she said, “could you identify Bindley, 
Squire Bandsdowne’s former servant, should you see him?” 

“ Deed’ll I cood, ma young bairn. The scoulin’ villain. 
’Twad na tak but a puir luike at him to dintify him, ma 
bairn.” 

Having many friends and relations in the great city she 
easily found an excuse to go there. She compelled Wallie 
to trump up one also, and they went on the following 
morning. Arriving at the police station, Bondon, where 
the man Bindley was confined, Billie, hand in hand with 
the old Scotchman, walked along the narrow corridors, 
following the captain of police. 

At last cell number one hundred and three was reached. 
Sitting on a rude cot was no other than William Bindley, 
who glared at them through the grating with a devilish 
expression. 

It was agreed between old Wallie and Billie that no 
expression of recognition was to escape their lips, or any 
conversation to occur that would reveal the meanino* of 
their errand. Offering thanks to the officer for his atten- 
tion they were about to hurry away from the place, when 
the captain asked their reason for so short and silent an 
interview with the prisoner. 

“We merely wanted to see if that prisoner was one 
papa desired to find. He is no friend of ours, I assure 
you, sir. He no doubt is the same, and our lawyer will 
attend to the case. He must soon see him, too, as it is a 
matter of importance. 

The captain raised his cap reverentially as he noticed 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


65 


Lillie’s beautiful face and refined manner. The strange 
callers left. 

As they walked the streets, passing the stores common 
to this neighborhood, the groggeries, Jew peddlers and 
dingy eating-houses, Lillie held firmly to Wallie’s hand. 
Old Wallie, who always detested the city, never spoke a 
word. He was conscious he was doing some great deed 
for his young mistress, but exactly what its purport was 
he dared not ask. He individually had but one theory as 
to the cause of young Margate’s death, and this old Scotch 
pigheaded theory could not be shaken by all the evidence 
in the world. And that same old head knew well that 
Miss Lillie was deeply interested in upsetting his view of 
the case. So, being between two dilemmas, the aged 
gardener was sensible enough to say nothing. Faithful 
to the last, Lillie knew he would almost die rather than 
betray her secret. 

Passing a few squares they hailed a hansom cab, drove 
to the depot and left the city. 

Having met Mr. Thorpe several times, and having heard 
him advance a theory of the tragedy almost similar 
to her own, upon arriving at Maidestone she called at 
the lawyer’s ofl&ce. She needed no introduction. Thorpe 
dropped all business as she entered the door. Advancing 
he greeted .her cordially as the daughter of his friend and 
former client. She stated briefly the cause of her errand. 

“I will be delighted to assist you,” he replied; but as 
she proceeded in conversation he became very guarded 
and listened attentively. 

“ My dear young lady,” the lawyer said, ‘‘ are you as 
deeply interested in ferreting out the perpetrator of this 
terrible deed as I am? In other words, are we allies? 


66 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


You must know I am aware of the family feud, and was 
long before you were born.’^ 

“ Mr. Thorpe, I know you are honorable.’^ Thorpe’s 
bright eyes twinkled at the compliment like a couple of 
little stars. “ Therefore,” continued Lillie, ‘‘ all I ask is, 
that all information I can furnish, all the assistance I can 
render, and it may prove more than you imagine, must 
remain a secret as far as I am concerned.” 

“ Why? ” said Thorpe, twisting his fingers and eyeing 
her suspiciously. “ Well, before we enter into this com- 
pact, let me ask whom you consider the guilty party, 
young Landsdowne or Lindley? ” 

“ Certainly not the former,” exclaimed Lillie, blush- 
ing deeply. 

“ Ah! then you believe Lindley the guilty one? ” 

“Yes, sir, indeed. And here I might as well tell you 
all.” 

The blush had faded from her lovely cheeks, making 
way for a slight pallor. Tear-drops were starting in her 
eyes, and she related to the shrewd lawyer, in as firm a 
voice as the little heroine could muster, the story of her 
meeting with Charles, his gallantry, his desire to abolish 
the existing feud between the families. How she admired 
him. How utterly impossible she considered it for him 
to commit the atrocious act. How deplorable that he 
should be falsely accused. 

She spoke with so much sincerity, Thorpe was at once 
impressed that she would prove a strong ally and a pow- 
erful assistant to the success of his cause. 

He was about to drive to Landsdowne Hall that evening, 
thus giving Lillie a chance to ride home. As they jogged 
along behind the lawyer’s methodical cob, she reopened 
the conversation. 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


G7 


“Now, Mr. Thorpe, I will give you the first informa- 
tion, and you will see if, as you say, woman’s ingenuity is 
of any assistance. I know where Lindley is,” she said, 
innocently. 

Had an American electric cyclone struck Mr. Thorpe 
that moment, knocking him half a mile skyward, he could 
not have been more surprised than by the utterance of 
these words from the sweetest lips in Kent. He dropped 
the lines and sat up in the old sulky, appearing three feet 
taller than usual. 

“ Miss Margate, know now that our case is half won. 
Give me your hand, my senior counsel ! How on earth did 
you make the discovery, and where is he? ” 

Enthusiastic to a degree bordering on hysteria, if such 
a complaint were possible to exist in this dry anatomy of 
legal lore, Thorpe listened attentively as Lillie narrated the 
manner in which she had discovered the whereabouts of 
Lindley. 

“ Bravo!” He sang out as he had not done for twenty 
years. The old horse caught the enthusiasm, as he 
neighed twice, although fully two miles from the scent of 
oats, and he shook his tail and put his ears back as if 
something of interest was being discussed that he ought 
to hear. 

The sun was sinking fast as Thorpe landed Lillie safely 
at the big front gate at Oak Hill, and jogged on to Lands- 
downe Hall. 

Jerricks was to be there that evening. 


CHAPTER X. 


A LITTLE DAYLIGHT. 

“Her precious pearl in sorrow's cup 
Unmelted at the bottom lay, 

To shine again, when, all drunk up. 

The bitterness should pass away.” 

In the study, or small room, off the main hall, at Lands- 
downe, sat the Squire, Mr. Thorpe, and the London de- 
tective, Watson derricks. On an old-fashioned, square 
center table were pipes, tobacco, and' a couple of cut-glass 
decanters. 

“ Well, gentlemen,” opened the Squire, “ we have 
much to say and much to discuss this evening, so let us 
begin.” 

Taking a pipe and filling it the Squire invited the others 
to follow suit. 

“ Here is a light, Thorpe, hand it to Mr. derricks when 
done with it.” 

This part of the ceremony performed, the Squire looked 
at the doors and windows to see if they were securely 
bolted. 

“ I will look out on the veranda to see that no one is 
eavesdropping,” he said, opening the window. “No, no 
one there, but the moon looking in,” quoth the Squire. 

“ He’s safe, sir,” replied Mr. derricks. Thorpe adding 
a satisfactory grunt. 

“ In the first place, Mr. derricks, from what you have 
seen and heard of the action of this man Lindley, what 
are your conclusions? ” 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAAIP. 


69 


Jerricks held the glass scientifically in his hand, and re- 
plied in a careful and studied manner ; 

“ The fact of hs running away with the 'oss, sir, in the 
first place puts hm in the role of a thief, sir, and a smart 
un, too, and no novice at that. Now, ^ad ’e — ” here Mr. 
Jerricks placed his glass down on the table, “ ^ave runned 
away at won’st h’after the h’act, sir, I would ^ave put hm 
down for a mere novice, but stayin’ and takin’ of the mes- 
sage from you to Mr. Thorpe, so cunnin’, and then jumpin’ 
the neighborhood, sir, makes ’im out to be adroit in the 
perfession. Then again, ’is threat to young Margate; we 
puts great faith in prior threats, in cases o’ this kind.” 

“ But,” added the Squire, “ didn’t my poor son Charles 
run away? and as for threats, why, bless you, I have 
threatened time and again to exterminate the entire race 
of Margates.” 

“ Never mind, Squire, please,” interrupted Thorpe, wav- 
ing his hand depreciatingly, “ Let us hear from Jerricks.” 

The Squire sat back in his easy chair and sipped his glass 
good-naturedly. Jerricks proceeded: 

‘‘ All werry well, sir, but then again, you know, sir, 
we are not on your son’s trail now.” 

This remark caused the Squire to sigh. Thorpe’s bright 
little eyes scrutinized the detective’s face. 

“ When did you say this h’old missin’ musket were 
found, Mr. Thorpe? ” 

“ At the time of the tragedy,” answered Thorpe. 

I would like to ’ave it brought in,” said Jerricks. 

“ Yes; I want you to see it before it is handed over to 
the officers, at Maidestone,” replied the Squire. 

The Squire, sending for it, handed it to Jerricks, who 
took it up and carefully looked it over. 


70 


THE MHiLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


How long since was this gun fired previous to the 
date of the tragedy, Squire? asked Thorpe. 

“Fully five years, I believe. Why, it was so broken 
and rusty it was not considered safe to load,” the Squire 
answered. 

After a critical examination of the weapon, derricks 
remarked: “Did this ’ere man Lindley ’ave any powder 
and shot, or did ’e ’ave h’access to any of your son’s h’am- 
munition. Squire Landsdowne?” 

“Well, you know he cleaned the outside of Charles’ 
gun the night before he went out.” 

“ Did he load it? ” 

“ That I much doubt, as Charles would let no one load 
it. It must have been loaded when Charles handed it to 
him.” 

“ Now,” said derricks, who had risen and was pacing up 
and down the floor with his hands stuck deep in his pock- 
ets, “ can we have the double barreled gun your son shot 
with that day? ” 

“ It is in the hands of the officers,” replied Thorpe. 

“ That gun I must see, but never mind to-night. Were 
the ’ands on the farm allowed any h’ammunition? ” 

“No, sir. It has always been contrary to the rules of 
the Hall,” replied the Squire, decisively. “ But still Tve 
may have had powder, as it was used in blasting rocks in 
the back pasture.” 

“Good! Now do you suppose,” continued derricks, 
“that with the ramrod JLindley could ’ave taken out the 
cartridge, or ’ave mutilated the shell of the cartridge — ” 

“ So that the shot would have spilled out? ” suggested 
Thorpe. 

“ H’l would like to see the make of that gun. In the 
first place, a usual shotgun ’as a spiral screw at the end 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAIklP. 


71 


of the ramrod that would pull the cartridge h’out or loose 
the shot so that it would drop h’out. But h’l ’m h’only 
h’asking these questions for h’information. There may 
be nothing in ’em, sir. Bindley might ’ave gone and 
loaded the gun with blasting powder and pulled the shot 
h’out of one of the barrels of Charles’ gun. Which bar- 
rel was unloaded? ” 

“ The right one.” 

“ Whether a microscopical h’examination h’of Charles’ 
gun, sir, would reweal the fact whether the shot were 
fired or pulled h’out, is a h’open question. I thinks it 
will, and h’if it will, it’s a big pint in h’our favor, that’s 
h’all.” 

“ Now, I place great significance in the discovery of 
the old musket,” said Thorpe, with his two hands up to 
his face, his elbows on the table.” 

“ H’it is our little Moses in the wilderness,” replied 
derricks; “ h’and h’if h’l knows my business it will lead 
to something great.” 

“ Could we only explain Charles’ mysterious disappear- 
ance,” exclaimed the Squire, with a long sigh, his eyes 
closed. 

“ Who knows,” said the detective, pulling Thorpe’s 
arm, ‘‘ but that Bindley did away with Charles to cast 
suspicion on him, and to make believe he runned away? 
That’s been dunned afore, Mr. Thorpe. Done several 
times afore; indeed it ’as,” he whispered to Mr. Thorpe. 

The Squire, half dozing in his easy chair, heard Jittle of 
the last few remarks. 

Thorpe thought a moment, filled derrick’s glass again, 
then his own, looked at the Squire, who was now snoring, 
and then earnestly propounded the following conundrum 
to derricks: 


72 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


Now, if the fatal shot was fired by Lindley, how did 
it happen that Charles Landsdowne’s handkerchief and 
gun were found so near the body? ” 

“ Easy enough,” replied derricks, who, though totally 
uneducated and unlearned in what is termed detective 
science, was famous for his keenness in ferreting out some 
of the most mysterious murders that had ever been com- 
mitted in England. 

“You know, sir, the fact is prevalent in my mind 
that this ’ere Lindley, as h’l said afore, is no novice. 
That he is an old and ’ard un, and h’if we ’ad ’is picter we 
could probably place ’im on an ’igh shelf, sir.” ’E ’as 
been rusticating, h’as we call it, h’out ’ere, to h’escape de- 
tection in London. Now, h’admittin’ that our man’s no 
novice, ’e would do h’every conceivable thing to cover 
h’up ’is tracks, so h’l wouldn’t place much reliance on the 
finding o’ the young man’s ’kerchief and ’is gun so near 
the body. Now, sir, I believe it will be discovered that 
this Lindley killed young Margate with the musket from 
a hidden place. Per’aps the stone fence. His footmarks 
were seen there. Then young Landsdowne, hearing the 
shot, hastened to the spot. Seeing young Margate 
wounded and dying, ’e, Charles, ’as tried to stop the 
blood, and ’as lifted ’im and looked h’into his face. This 
accounts for that doctor’s statement about the wision in 
the young man’s h’eyes; but mind you I don’t go much, 
h’if any, on that. Then this fiend Lindley, seeing the 
gun on the ground, has picked it h’up and — ” 

“ Fired it off,” said Thorpe. 

“ No, ’old ’ard, that won’t do. ’E’s ’it ’im from behind 
with the butt h’end of the gun, stunned ’im, and then 
knifed ’im. That would be ’is trick, as ’e’s no novice.” 

“Then he has hid young Landsdowne in the marsh back 


THE MILLIONAIEE TRAMP. 


73 


of the farm said Thorpe, in an excited whisper. ‘ ‘ He has 
killed him with the butt end of the gun and a knife.” 

“Killed! Killed who?” roared the Squire, awaking 
as if from a bad dream, half-wittedly. 

“Vy, killed your poor son, sir,” said Jerricks, whose 
tone of voice had become vivacious with the excitement 
caused by the new theory. 

“ I see, I see, O my I ” said the Squire, as he sank back 
slowly in his chair, covering his face with both his hands. 

Thorpe, who was busy running over future plans in his 
mind, proposed that a search be inaugurated for the body 
of Charles Landsdowne in the marsh next morning, which 
was acquiesced in by Jerricks, who retired to leave for 
London on the early train. 

The meeting adjourned till Jerricks should come again 
the following week. 


CHAPTER XL 

THE pauper’s legacy. 

“ Never turn from gray hairs in contempt. 

No old man is too low to give you good advice.” 

In famous Chicago, that wonderful refuge for the unfor- 
tunates of the world, where meet the criminal outcast, the 
pauper, the capitalist, the man of brains, the hungry from 
a famine-stricken land, and the unemployed of every 
clime — were James Darrow and Old Tom. 

They stood upon a prominent corner, a strong picture 
— spring and winter. A youth in blooming health, 
sturdy with self-reliance and of noble manhood, whose 
hands were now hardened from exposure and honest 
toil, and whose bright, ruddy face and clear com- 
plexion gave evidence of outdoor exercise and a good 
digestion. The other, winter, bowed and wrinkled, 
haggard and gray, against whose hoary head the cold 
winds of adversity had drifted boisterously for many a 
year. 

“The only friend I have on earth, Mr. Darrow,” said 
Old Tom. As he spoke, his teeth chattered. “ Winter 
is near. What a burden I’ll be to you, poor boyj’ 

“ Never mind, Tom, old fellow, you, too, are the only 
friend I have in this great city, and I propose to stand by 
you to the end. Don’t you understand? ” 

“ Now I have plenty of good warm clothes and you 
must get an overcoat. Tom, you must.” 


THE MH.LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


75 


Tears filled the old man’s eyes. Kind words were 
strangers to him. 

“ God bless you! What a heart! ” he answered, with 
emotion. 

“ Never mind the heart, the overcoat is wnat you need.” 

He helped Old Tom along till he found a clothing house. 

Days passed on. Darrow had become quite a fair brick 
mason during his year’s absence, and so respectful was he 
in his conduct that the architect had promised to secure 
him steady employment for the winter. 

He had secured comfortable lodging for himself and Old 
Tom. 

“ After all,” said Darrow, one day, to himself, “ what 
is better than good honest labor to insure perfect health 
and luxury of living. I can eat a meal with such a relish. 
Why, it would set half the epicures of London envious. 
Should it ever happen that my innocence should be proved, 
this year will be the making of me.” 

Old Tom was failing fast. His nerves had given out of 
late. Darrow had persuaded him that he must be more 
cautious in his mode of life. He had provided him with 
every comfort, but his charge was slowly and certainly 
failing, and only a short time would intervene before the 
old man must pass away. 

One evening as Darrow sat by Tom’s bedside, reading, 
his attention was called to a peculiar look in his eyes, and 
he said to himself, musingly, “ He has changed wonder- 
fully during the past few days.” 

“ Darrow, my boy, 1 feel I am getting weaker, and I 
would like to tell you something, if my time is really up. 
You have been kind to me.” 

“ Now, never mind that,” Darrow said, laying his hand 
tenderl}^ on Old Tom’s head ; “ Go on.” 


76 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


‘‘ Well,” continued Tom, “ you have never yet asked 
me my real name, and I have a secret to confide which no 
one on earth knows.” 

Darrow listened attentively. 

“ Although I have been a tramp for many years, I might 
have been better off, and would have been but for a feeling 
of revenge which has haunted me all my life, sending fire 
through my blood at the very thought of him who was 
able to assist me. 

“ You know I told you about my father, in New En- 
land. He died years ago, when I was young, leaving as 
his heir-at-law my brother. My uncle, a batchelor resid- 
ing ill New York, I always detested. When visiting at 
his residence in New York I got into some difficulty; it 
was a love affair. I became acquainted with a young lady 
and was falsely accused of insulting her. 

‘ ‘ This uncle was an exceedingly severe man. When 
he heard I was so accused he tied me up in a room and 
gave me a terrible and cruel whipping. 

“ I can almost feel the blows now,” and his old eyes 
snapped. “ I went home and complained to my father, 
but a letter from the uncle had preceded me, and instead 
of my father investigating as to the truth of the matter, 
he ordered me out of the house, and I heard him say he 
would bequeath every dollar to my brother which should 
by right come to me. 

‘‘ My father owned, near the city of Bangor, Maine, a 
farm which must have become very valuable. I saw a no- 
tice in a Bangor paper years ago that houses were being 
erected on it.” 

“ And you have suffered all this time and never laid 
claim to the inheritance?” 

“ Well, I never knew till two years ago that my brother 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


77 


had died without issue, and the thought never occurred 
that my uncle would lay claim to the property supposing 
me dead; as I have been,’’ and Old Tom smiled, faintly. 

“ I am sorry, Tom, I know nothing of American law; 
but perhaps you may be the only living heir to the prop- 
erty.” 

“Likely, very likely,” Old Tom replied, and casting a 
longing look at Darrow, he remained silent for a moment. 

“ But it is too late, too late to make the attempt,” the 
old man said, again gazing fondly at Darrow. 

“ Say, my boy,, you are young and may get something 
out of it yet. It may start you in business,” he whis- 
pered, as his wan face brightened at the idea he was about 
to express. “ A quit-claim deed, a quit-claim deed, better 
for you than any will, Darrow, good boy,” and his poor, 
wrinkled features indicated that last calm preceding 
death. 

“Do get an attorney and notary, and draw up a quit- 
claim ; my hand is now steady, look,” he said, holding his 
almost transparent, bony fingers above the bed-clothing. 
“ File it for record in Bangor, Maine. Do, Darrow, my 
boy; it is the last request of Old Tom.” 

Half to gratify the whim of a wandering mind, as Dar- 
row believed, not that any good could result from the at- 
tempt to recover the property, he walked to a corner drug- 
store, and, finding the directory, he soon sought an attor- 
ney who roomed in his office, named Simpson, whom he 
summoned to Tom’s bedside, notarial seal in hand. 

The deed conveyed to James Darrow “ all the tenements 
and interests now owned or possessed by the grantor, in 
Penobscot county, Maine, including a certain piece of 
land containing 80 acres, in or adjacent to the city of 


78 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


Bangor, formerly owned by the Keverend George Clyn- 
denning, situated as follows ; * * * * 

(Signed) George Clyndenning, 

Nephew and Sole Heir-at-Law of Henry Clyndenning , 
New York, 

Next morning as the gray light of dawn broke into the 
little bed-room window, the bony hand of Old Tom sig- 
nalled Darrow that the last “ Move on, old man,” was 
called by a mightier voice than that of an earthly official. 
Pressing Darrow’s hand he whispered, earnestly: 

“ Go straight to Maine ! Go straight to Maine ! Good 
by,” and the eyes of this friendless waliderer closed for- 
ever. 


% It: H % % % 

Darrow was not naturally mercenary. Since his depar- 
ture from England he had become to consider himself 
fated. Wealth to him would probably prove his down- 
fall. It was but a matter of time, he believed, that under 
any circumstances he would be detected and brought back to 
England, and doomed to the gallows or a convict’s life.* 
Wealth would only hasten his capture. Then again, poor 
Old Tom’s vision of property might be but the wild im- 
agery of an unfortunate old man’s brain. 

The following day he busied himself ruminating over 
the advisability of a journey to Maine. A vivid dream 
the previous night, in which he thought he saw the home- 
stead Old Tom had referred to, strengthened his desire to 
go. So with what little money he had at his com- 
mand he had the remains of his old comrade embalmed 

♦Note.— Under the rules of evidence in England, the accused is not allowed to 
testify in his own behalf, consequently an apparently strong chain of circumstan- 
tial evidence may succeed in hanging an innocent man, and as this case appeared 
to him, all the talent of the English bar could not have saved him. 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


79 


and coffined, and left for Maine. This course was the re- 
sult of a request by Old Tom that he would like, if possi- 
ble, to be laid away in the old church-yard at home. 

Arriving at Bangor his errand soon became known. 
The remains of Old Tom were placed in the vault in the 
cemetery, and many citizens, who had been advised of the 
news, called to view them. Many identified the features 
as belonging to the Clyndenning family. 

“ The small finger of his left hand was cut oft* by a cir- 
cular saw, when a boy.” 

This remark was made by an old gentleman who 
had been his playmate. An anchor and harp pricked 
in India ink on his right arm, was done at the 
school-house by George Wright, the son of a retired sea 
captain, who still resided in the city, and who kept a ftour 
and feed store near the court-house. He identified the 
marks and Temembered the fact because he was punished 
for the act at the time by the schoolmaster, Mr. Jarvis, 
long since dead. 

Harrow remained in the town a week before he present- 
ed his deed to the recorder. Having become acquainted 
with a young and exceedingly intelligent attorney at the 
boarding-house, Harrow made known to him the facts of 
the deed, which they duly filed for record in the court 
house. 

The discovery of George Clyndenning, Jr., had 
set many men to thinking that the title to the land 
occupied by them might become affected, but when the 
record of the deed became public, it was the talk of the 
town. Small groups of merchants could be seen congre- 
gating on the streets discussing the event. 

The New York brother of the late Rev. George Clyn- 
denning, Henry Clyndenning, having died suddenly with- 


80 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


out issue, and intestate, this property had vested in Old 
Tom as next of kin. As it was supposed that George 
Clyndenning, Jr., alias Old Tom, had also departed this 
life, the property would, in that event, escheat to the 
State for want of an inheritor. The executors appointed 
had executed leases, and a larger portion of the Clynden- 
ning farm lying along the Kiver Kenduskeag in the busi- 
ness portions of the city, where the lumber mills, vessel 
docks and warehouses are, was worth fully one million 
dollars. 

Darrow was looked upon both as an usurper and an ex- 
ceedingly lucky fellow. Leroy Wilson, the young attor- 
ney, had secured all the evidence necessary to establish the 
title of the entire premises. 

A public meeting was held in the town hall to effect a 
settlement with Darrow. Prominent attorneys were re- 
tained by the city, but it was agreed that Darrow was un- 
questionably the sole owner of the entire tract. The facts 
were patent and undeniable ; George Clyndenning, alias 
Old Tom, had died a tramp when by right he was a mil- 
lionaire, and James Darrow was his grantee. 

The estate had been leased to many citizens and the city 
would buy. Eight hundred thousand dollars was to be 
paid to James Darrow from the city treasury within ninety 
days from the date of the meeting. 


CHAPTER XII. 

THE convict’s CONFESSION — TUENING QUEEN’S EVIDENCE. 

Darrow in the interim returned to the western metrop- 
olis, and under a fictitious name, subscribed for a 
Maidestone newspaper, which was sent regularly to the 
address given. One day while perusing its contents he 
was surprised and shocked to read in displayed head- 
lines the horrible words : 

MURDER WILL OUT. 

CHARLES LANDSDOWNE GUILTY 

OF THE KILLING OF WARREN MARGATE. 

CONFESSION OF WILLIAM LINDLEY 

WHO CLAIMS TO HAVE BEEN AN 

EYE WITNESS AND ACCOMPLICE 

AFTER THE ACT IN THE TERRIBLE AFFAIR. 

The confession read : 

“ I, William Lindley, a convict, lately sentenced to four- 
teen years for highway robbery, do make this statement 
under oath. I was out in the thicket back of Landsdowne 
Hall, near Maidestone, Kent, repairing a stone-fence for 
my employer. Squire Landsdowne, when I saw Warren 
Margate coming through an open space in the thicket. 
When within twenty paces from the fence I saw Charles 
Landsdowne appear from the left, take deliberate aim at 
Mr. Margate and fire, killing him instantly. Not desiring 


82 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


to be called as a witness to this transaction I assisted 
Charles Landsdowne to escape and made my way back to 
Landsdowne Hall, and soon left the place for London. 

(Signed) William Lindley/’ 

“ The time will come,” the article continued, “ when 
young Landsdowne will be captured, as a perfect descrip- 
tion has been sent to all police headquarters in Europe, 
America and Australia,” and concluded by saying; “ The 
only clue to Landsdowne’s whereabouts, and that is de- 
cidedly slim, is the fact that a certain man answering 
his description boarded an America-bound vessel, the 
Amazon, at Chatham. This vessel returned to En- 
gland, but an interview with the captain (all captains 
have an innate dislike to ferretin’ land-lubber” detec- 
tives) disclosed little information. The man Lindley will 
turn queen’s evidence, and thus save his own punishment 
at the expiration of the term he is now serving.” 

This alarming news greatly dismayed Harrow, who be- 
gan to fear his sudden acquisition of wealth would prove 
his betrayal. He strolled along the streets not knowing 
what course to pursue. 



^ ** Fidelity brighter than any jewel.” 

, Lillie Margate sat by the front window of her comfort- 

able home. She was plying her needle for the benefit of 
the parish poor. She disliked sewing societies, but 
loved to make little articles for a poor widow who was the 
natural guardian of five diminutive creatures, and she 
made them stylish, too. Once in a great while we discover 
a girl who is graceful from the topmost silken hair of her 
well shaped head to the soles of her tiny boots. She is 
graceful. People call it stylish. Everything becomes her. 

W,': She can take a hat without a feather; yes, with a 

i I tear in the top, crowd it on her head, knock it 

all out of shape by one graceful thump of her grace- 
:: ful fist, and it immediately becomes transformed 

? into a jaunty, sweet little “ love of a hat,” in fact, super- 

; ior to a Parisian importation costing as much as a silk 
gown; that is, on her particular head, not so on another. 
■- She can don a dress of atrocious color, design and cut; 

i shake her graceful form into it like magic, reef it up a bit 

here, let it out there, move a button or two — there now, 
j xp,.: a little tighter about that magnificent throat, a smile, and 

1®^ Venus is herself. 

In the great millinery establishments of the world 
pretty faced and rosy cheeked girls try on bonnets, and, 
W- display their pearly teeth, their lustrous, flash- 
ing eyes peeping like diamonds from under the shadow of 
3^^-' a handsome bonnet. This is done to show some homely 

1^. r- 

My 


84 


THE MH.LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


and withering old maid, with gold in her pocket but little 
shrewdness in her head, that “ the bonnet is charming.” 

“ So it is, indeed,” she exclaims, picturing in her ancient 
mind what a swell she will cut next Easter Sunday. 

Lillie Margate’s delight was to dress poor Mrs. Jollin’s 
‘‘ childer” up so tastily that when they came to Sunday 
school with their clean, neatly trimmed dresses, the other 
children would look at them admiringly. 

Well, there she sat, this good and graceful girl, every 
stitch recording some recollection of a manly face. 

“Where can he be, (stitch) across the deep ocean? 
(stitch.) Will I ever see him again, poor fellow? ” and a 
big tear bedimmed her eyes. 

When a woman says “ poor fellow ” the second time 
about a man, she means more than the words express — a 
sympathetic feeling way down in the bottom of her heart — 
for pity is akin to love, and if she does not love then she 
will soon. 

“That horrid paper (stitch) to write such things about 
Charles.” 

A loud knock at the door startled her and she drop- 
ped her sewing and ran down stairs. 

It was a messenger from Thorpe, saying he would like 
to see some member of the Margate family at his office 
some day soon, to ask a few questions in regard to the 
man Lindley. 

The adroit Thorpe had sent the message in this form 
knowing Mr. or Mrs. Margate would never call on the 
attorney of Landsdowne Hall. 

The day was bright and clear, and old Wallie hitched 
up the chestnut pony, who was a fleet pacer, and Lillie 
jumping into her gig cart with Toby, her pet greyhound, 


THE MU.LIONAIKE TRAJVIP. 


85 


leaping and yelping by her side, made for the city, beating 
the lawyer’s messenger and his jogging steed fully a mile. 

Thorpe was delighted to see Lillie; she had been the 
mainstay of his view of the case, derricks had often 
become disgusted and disheartened as his many strat- 
egies and theories had proven futile. The confession of 
Lindley had almost converted him to the belief that 
Charles Landsdowne had indeed committed the deed ; in 
hict, derricks upon one occasion candidly admitted to 
Thorpe that, “ Ven a veller o’ Lindley’s cloth gets down 
to a confession h’its the h’only time we believes ’im. Nev- 
ertheless, Mr. Thorpe, the weak pint in this confessing, 
be that o’ placin’ the wust o’ the crime on Landsdowne, 
probably to save ’isself.” 

Lillie had long since suspected that Charles Landsdowne 
and the dames Darrow who shipped on the Amazon were 
one and the same, and patiently awaited an opportunity 
to express to him her faith in his innocence; this 
she believed would encourage the wanderer and give him 
hope. 

“ Oh, I could die with him!” inadvertently passed her 
lips as Wallie held the gate open for her on her return 
trip from the town. Old Wallie never looked up. His 
young mistress’s secret was safe with him, but this fact 
did not prevent the crimson from coloring Lillie’s pale 
cheeks at her carelessness. She longed for the promised 
trip to America, for then, she thought, she might discover 
some trace of him who was uppermost in her thoughts. 

A family named Tupper, residing in Maidestone, pro- 
posed paying a visit to New York, and perhaps to proceed 
inland as far as the Kocky Mountains, visiting Niagara 
Falls, Mammoth Cave and other points of interest. Mrs. 
Margate had spent the day with them and, having heard 


86 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


SO much about the anticipated excursion, she was full 
of it. 

Archibald Margate had been busy all day electioneering. 
He was about to become a candidate for election to parlia- 
ment, and when Mrs. Margate proposed to sail with the 
Tuppers for America, he discouraged the idea, as it would 
upset his plans. 

‘‘Mamma, you and Lillie go with the Tuppers and leave 
me here to fight this political battle alone.” 

“ Dear Archie! I never was away so long from you.” 

“ But, ma; pa would be less worried, if we were away. 
He could then invite his noisy politicians to the house and 
they could sit up and jabber all night if they chose.” 

“ A wise head on young shoulders, Lill,” the farmer 
laughingly replied. 

It was decided they should go with the Tuppers. Mrs. 
Tupper, John Tupper, junior. Miss Nellie Tupper and 
Susan, the Tupper maid. 

Busy times for four weeks. Seamstresses, dresses, sew- 
ing, stitching — my ! what a time. Trunks ordered ; great 
preparation. Ten times too much — the usual case with 
novel tourists. 

The day of departure arrived. All Lillie’s young friends 
in the vicinity had called to say good by. Archibald 
Margate was to accompany them to Liverpool. 

Old Wallie was nervous and busy ordering the men 
about. One team and a spring wagon to take the trunks 
and baggage ; the family carriage the smaller parcels and 
the party. 

Lillie’s greyhound, Toby, was to go only as far as 
Maidestone. Poor Tobias seemed aware that something 
out of the way was to happen, as he watched with wistful 
eyes the loading. 


THE MmHONAIRE TRAJMP. 


87 


Amid many good bys and waving of handkerchiefs, 
away the family carriage rumbled over the highway. The 
Tuppers were at the railroad station, they had been there 
for half an hour. Mrs. Tupper was a matter-of-fact elder- 
ly lady, the wife of John Tupper, senior, one of the 
greatest iron men in the country, who “ ran a mill ” 
of over one thousand employes, a man of iron will. But 
Mrs. Tupper ran the house and John Tupper in a very 
methodical and systematic manner. She always allowed 
plenty of time for “ accidents, delays or errors.” She 
had all the baggage at the station and checked at 2 o’clock 
p. M., notwithstanding the train did not pass Maidestone 
till 3 o’clock. 

A merry hurrah was shouted by John Tupper, junior, 
as the Margate family carriage turned the corner and ap- 
peared to view. 

****** 

Darrow having tired of idleness accepted a situation as 
book-keeper in a small store. He had to work only a few 
hours a day, but he was thus kept from the street and com- 
paratively out of danger. One evening while on his way 
to the post-office, a carriage passed close to him. 

A sudden impulse caused him to turn about, and in 
doing so he caught sight of one of the occupants. 

“ That face! Heavens! Can it be she? It is if I am 
alive!” he exclaimed. “Oh, how can I make myself 
known? Dare I? That she has kept our acquaintance- 
ship a secret I have not a doubt. My God ! does that beau- 
tiful girl return the love I have for her? ” Thoughts like 
these flashed with lightning rapidity through his mind as 
he gazed fervently after the retreating carriage. 

Clenching his fist tightly he exclaimed, after a moment’s 
consideration: “ I will see her if I die for it.” 


88 


THE anLLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


Following the vehicle hurriedly he noticed its destina- 
tion, one of the largest hotels in the city. Yes, it was true ; 
on the register appeared the names : 

Mrs. Tupper. 

Mrs. Margate. 

Miss Lillie Margate. 

Miss Nellie Tupper. 

John Tupper, Jr., all of England. 

Darrow was a man who seldom acted hastily ; seating 
himself in the lobby of the hotel he considered what he 
should do and how to get word to Lillie. 

“ A meeting must be planned ; how can it be done in 
safety to Miss Margate and myself ? ’’ 

Fortune and Fate, two peculiar dames, who sometimes 
mutually agree to give sister Hope a chance, caused Lillie 
Margate to remain at home in the hotel that evening to 
write some letters, while the others of the party attend- 
ed the theatre. Darrow saw them leave the hotel, and as 
the door of the carriage slammed his heart leaped with 
joy. He now determined on a bold stroke. Entering the 
office he wrote on a card : 

Dear Miss Margate : — An old friend who once lived 
near you in Kent would like very much to see you in par- 
lor B a moment, if you please. 

Addressed, Miss Margate, Room 804. 

Lillie was surprised and startled at receiving such a 
note ; so agitated did she become that half a minute elapsed 
before she instructed the bell-boy as to the answer for 
which he stood waiting at the door. 

After an effort she summoned up strength enough to 
articulate : “ Tell the gentleman I will be down in a mo- 

ment. Stay; tell me, what is the gentleman’s name? ” 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


89 


‘ ‘ He did not sa}^ mum. Isn’t it on the card, mum? ” 

“ Never mind, I will go down. It is he. It must be.” 
A hot flush of excitement came over Lillie, and her cheeks 
were burning, because she believed the next moment 
would bring her face to face with the man she secretly 
loved. Throwing a wrap over her shoulders she ran 
nimbly down the steps. 

Coming to the parlor mentioned in the note, Lillie 
paused at the door; Landsdowne walked forward, and, 
grasping her proffered hand, said, earnestly; 

“ Miss Margate, I thank you from the bottom of my 
heart for granting me this visit. Brave girl! You do 
not deem me guilty? say no,” and his voice was full of emo- 
tion; “Say no, Miss Lillie,” and he rested his hand 
lightly on her shoulder, and looked into her face. Lillie 
looked down, tears filled her eyes, and she answered in a 
manner that conveyed in four words the writings of a 
page; 

“No, I never did.” 

“Thanks, Miss Lillie; God bless you, my dear good 
friend I ” 

Like a sister forgiving the returned brother, she sat 
beside him on the lounge. 

“We must talk but a short time. Your friends have 
gone to the theater. I will be brief and tell you all. 
You will believe me. Miss Lillie, won’t you? ” 

“ I will I ” and she brightened up and looked in his face 
with love-lit eyes, — such love-lit eyes; drinking in the 
manly words of her lover. 

“ Your kind face has been my only solace in my trouble,” 
Landsdowne began. “ I have wandered from place to 
place. There is no home for me.” Again big tears glist- 
ened in Lillie’s eyes. “ But God and you, Lillie Margate, 


90 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


know I am innocent — and that is more than half the bat- 
tle.” 

Sitting side by side the last of an antagonistic race, 
these two looked into the grate fire, and in the dying embers 
they saw and read the gloomy picture of their future life, 
but their hearts were brave and full of hope. Lillie inno- 
cently told her story of the visit to Lindley in prison, also 
her alliance with Thorpe in the great case of the Crown vs. 
Landsdowne, what she had done to attempt to unravel the 
mystery, little divining every word she said was a token of 
the love she bore the listener. “And here I am,” she said ; 
“ I have come all the way to try and find you, to try 
and comfort you, poor — ” she was about to say poor boy! 

Landsdowne was mortal, he couldn’t stand it. Puttinsf 
his arm around her he kissed her fervently on the lips! 

Lillie blushed but said not a word. By far too sensible 
to say, “You must not,” too true to herself to become 
apparently annoyed. She loved Charles Landsdowne 
— all the doubts existing in her heart had flown forever, 
and she would not flinch from her position by assuming 
what she did not mean. 

Modesty compelled the blush of innocence to mount 
her cheek, but her heart was staunch and true, and 
Landsdowne knew it on account of her silence. 

“ Now, we must not yet be seen together. Miss Lillie,” 
he said. 

“ I don’t care if we are, but we must be wise.” She spoke 
hurriedly. 

“ In half an hour they will return ; we must not meet 
again while you are in the city,” she said, sadly. 

“ I have half a mind to go back and stand my trial like 
a man ; with your permission I will do so.” 

“ Oh, Charles!” she replied, “ what if it should happen 


THE MILLIONAIRE TR.V3IP. 


91 


that you should be convicted? What if— -no, I will not 
permit it. I cannot.*^ As the little maiden pronounced 
these words, she looked straight into his face, her lustrous 
eyes flashing in almost a mandatory manner, but Lands- 
downe knew it was for love of him. 

“ Do as I say; stay till my return to England,” she con- 
tinued. “ Give me your assumed name on this card,” 
handing him a card. 

Charles wrote, James Darrow. 

“You sailed on the Amazon; I knew it was you.” 

“ You surprise me.” 

“ Am I not correct? ” 

“ You are, indeed.” 

‘‘ I will tell you in a long letter how I discovered this. 
Oh, I am so happy, now,” she said, prettily. “ This man 
Lindley committed the deed.” 

“ Darrow’s eyes fairly stood out from their sockets with 
astonishment. 

“Listen,” Lillie continued, while she assumed a busi- 
ness air. “ Lindley loaded your gun the night before.” 

“ No, but he cleaned it.” 

“Yes, and he took the charge of shot out of the cart- 
ridge and put it in the old musket, followed brother out to 
the thicket and killed him.” 

Landsdowne stood facing her, pale with the astonishing 
developments being cited. 

“Was the musket found? ” 

“ Yes, near by, hid in the grove.” 

“ Did he have any shot?” 

“No; the pickles taken from poor brother’s wound 
were taken from your gun the night before.” 

“My God!” he exclaimed; “Lillie, this is news to 
me. The truth flashes before me. Warren said when 


92 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


dying, I holding his head on my knee, ‘ Two shots ! Two 
shots! ’ Yes, poor fellow, he had seen Lindley shoot. I 
kissed him when he was dying and implored his forgive- 
ness.” 

“ Charles, I am so glad of that; and one doctor at the 
inquest said your face was photographed in his eye,” she 
said, earnestly, “and that accounts for it.” 

‘‘ Now we have the truth, but how can we prove it? 
said Charles, eagerly. 

“ But one safe way,” replied Lillie, again looking at the 
clock; “by the testimony of Lindley; and he, I know, 
would swear your life away.” 

“Yes, as he tried to in that statement. Hold! there is 
another way, brave girl. Yes, I believe the Almighty 
will be with us, but we must work.” 

“ Could we only prove the barrel fired from your gun 
was not loaded with shot ; and oh, how hard I have tried 
to discover some one who saw Lindley withdraw the shot. 
Who is that boy, a sort of half idiot, who works at the 
Hall? He says he saw Lindley with Master Charles’ gun ? ” 

“Pete, poor Pete.’ said Landsdowne, smiling at the 
recollection. He was so fond of me. How hard he 
begged to have me take him shooting.” 

Lillie answered pleasantly, “ I have tried for months to 
see him, but you know he has the family failing in his 
dread of the Margates. The detective says this boy knows 
more than he desires to tell ; but the detectives use this 
as a stereotyped phrase I am afraid.” 

Again Lillie looked at the clock. 

“Bless you! ” Landsdowne said; “and you have been 
working for me so industriously all this time. You brave, 
good girl, how can I ever thank you? ” 

The hands of the ornamented hotel clock were both 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


93 


pointing towards ten. One farewell kiss and Lillie tripped 
up the stairs, her heart too full of joy and hope to say 
farewell. 

When Landsdowne parted with Lillie, a sense of loneli- 
ness came over him, and he determined, if possible, to at 
least catch one glance of her ere she returned to England. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


A VISIT TO MAMMOTH CAVE. 

“ Love is blind and lovers cannot see 
The pretty follies that themselves commit.” 

The entrance to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, is reached 
by a path down a wild ravine about three hundred yards 
from the hotel on the bluff, and surrounding" it are tulip 
trees, grape vines, butternuts and maples, fringing ferns, 
green mosses and tinted leaves. 

Mrs. Tupper sat down on a step with a sigh. “ Oh, 
dear; what a dreadful place this America is, to be sure. 
Things are so far apart you have to walk or travel fifty 
miles to get anywhere. There, now. Miss Margate, I am 
going to have my backache again.” 

Young Tupper, his sister and Lillie, were examining 
some beautiful ferns which grew in crevices on the rocks. 
Mrs. Margate had decided to remain at the hotel and join 
them on the second trip. 

Inside the entrance of the cave, dressed in the garments 
usually worn by those who take the long route, stood a 
party apparently deeply interested in the late arrivals. 

Matt, the colored guide, had been chartered to escort 
them. The old darky was busy answering questions for 
half a dozen voices at once. 

Mrs. Tupper did not like the idea of walking several 
miles. “Have they no carriages, Mr. Guide? ” 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


95 


“Bless you! no, mum! Carriages would have a bad 
time down dar, missus,” with a grin. 

“ How many miles did you say your short route was? ” 
she inquired, sarcastically. 

“ Seben.” 

“And you expect me to walk seven miles? ” 

“No one eber tires in dis cave. Make up your mine, 
mum.” 

After considerable coaxing Mrs. Tupper consented to 
go, and donning the cave attire she started out, following 
closely on Matt’s extensive heels; Miss Tupper next, then 
Lillie, followed by young Tupper as protection. 

“ Dar a gemman hyar who would like to jine the party, 
missus, if youse no ’jection, missus.” 

Mrs. Tupper turned about and looked the gentleman 
over carefully. 

“ Why, no. He appears to be respectable and honest,” 
said blunt Mrs. Tupper, aloud. 

“ I sincerely hope I am not intruding,” the stranger 
said, raising his hat politely. 

“ No, indeed,” replied Mrs. Tupper, in a motherly way, 
“ I was just saying to the girls, ‘ I wish Tupper was here;’ 
I feel rather afraid to journey through this terrible place 
without some male escort. Come along, young man,” 
said the matter-of-fact old lady, and the girls giggled at 
the home-like appellation. 

“ Taking the characteristic staff from the guide he joined 
in the single file procession immediately behind young 
Tupper, with whom he joined in conversation when the 
party reached the Gothic Gallery and were looking 
with great interest at the old vats and pump-frames. 
A stairway beyond led to the gate of a long avenue. 
From this ample gateway a narrow gallery or rocky shelf 


96 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


sweeps entirely across the main cave, really forming a 
bridge, whereby one might pass to the other side. 

“ On dat rocky platform over yonder, Mr. Edwin Booth 
once spoke s’lections from Hamlet,” said the guide. 

“ What did he do that for? ” quoth the original Mrs. 
Tnpper. 

“ I specks to ’muse some of his frens, missus.” 

Here Matt lit some fireworks which illumined the 
cavern and created a beautiful scene along the chasm. 
Lillie was leaning on her staff when she turned suddenly 
pale. 

“ It cannot be he.” 

None other than her lover, his face, his voice, his eyes. 
She turned away as a sudden joy came over her. 

Old Matt said, “ Dis yere place, ladies, used to be known 
as de haunted chamber,” as he pointed into the cavern, 
“and I must tole you some interesting legends concernin’ 
it.” 

As Lillie turned away her face Landsdowne believed 
he caught a look of recognition, and yet he would not for 
the world betray his identity to the Tuppers. 

Having, as he had supposed, sufficiently disguised him- 
self, he stood close to Matt, listening to his wonderful 
tale. 

Matt told of a miner who had lost his way in the cave, 
and who, when he heard the echoes of his own voice, 
thought he was in the infernal regions. Lillie, assuming 
interest, crossed over from her position and stood near 
Landsdowne. 

Being clad in the quaint traveling costume worn by the 
ladies in the cave added to rather than detracted from her 
beauty; her eyes beaming with love brought sufficient 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


97 


■compensation for the many hours he had awaited her 
arrival. 

“ So near and yet so far,” the stranger said to Lillie, 
and they soon evidently became deeply interested in each 
other. 

Mrs. Tupper, witnessing the change, expressed herself 
this way : 

“Now, there, that’s always the way. Those two young- 
sters have become acquainted and I must trudge it alone. 
Young man, let me take your arm.” 

The stranger gallantly acceded to the demand. 

On reaching the Pillars of Hercules old Matt collected 
the lamps and arranged them with fine effect. 

“We are now among de arches ob Gothic Chapel,” he 
said, inviting them all to enter. 

These pillars were so grouped as to form two Gothic 
arches. 

“ Befo’ dis alta’ a young bride once stood.” 

“ Did she get married here? ” inquired Lillie. 

“ Yeth ’um, she had promised her mudder dat she neber 
marry no man on de face ob de earth, and you believe it, 
she kep’ her promise.” 

The stranger slipped forward, asking Matt just where 
they stood, and how, taking Lillie’s hand and pretending 
to face the altar. 

“ Look out, Lill,” said Miss Tupper, “ coming events 
cast their shadows before.” 

The guide told them of several romantic marriages 
having taken place here, winding up by saying, “Young 
people believe it’s good luck to get married or engaged 
here.” 

The strano^er touched Miss Lillie’s stafi* at this remark. 


98 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


They stood close by as the others started to leave the 
place ; he noticed an expressive smile upon her fair face. 

The avenue leading from Gothic Chapel was over a mile 
in length and abounded in grotesque curiosities: The 
“ Old Arm-Chair,” a stalagmite resembling a chair; The 
Elephant’s Head, Vulcan’s Shop, The Lover’s Leap, 
Gateswood’s Dining Table, Lake Purity, Napoleon’s 
Dome, grand in symmetry and size. 

As the party retraced their steps to the main cave as far 
as the Giant’s Coffin they left it by a crevice and found 
themselves in the Deserted Chambers. The opening on 
the left is called Black Snake Avenue on account of its 
serpentine windings. As the guide announced the name 
Mrs. Tupper stood stock still and gathered her skirts 
tightly about her. 

“ Now! ” she exclaimed, “ I’ve had plenty of this, I’m 
nervous enough.” 

Old Matt, chuckling, replied: “ Bress you, inarm, 
dere ain’t no snakes in dis cave. Its de name of de ave- 
1100. He! he! he! ” 

Mrs. Tupper looked dubious and muttered to herself, 
“Well, we’ve got to believe these guides.” 

Plodding quietly along for one hundred and fifty yards, 
old Matt shouted, “ Danger ahead! ” 

Mrs. Tupper held tightly to her staff and said she 
wished she was home. The stranger caught Lillie’s hand 
and helped her safely over the rocks. 

Beside the path yawned a chasm called the Side-saddle 
Pit, from the shape of the projecting rock, on which the 
party seated themselves and watched with fearful interest 
the rolls of oiled paper lighted by the guide and dropped 
into the abyss. Down they went in a fiery, spiral form, 
burning long enough to give them a view of its corrugat- 


THE MU.LIONAIRE TRAJMP. 


99 


ed side and a mass of blackened sticks and timbers sixty- 
five feet below. 

Descending the stairway fifty yards beyond, they en- 
tered the labyrinth, a narrow, winding passage barely wide - 
enough for two persons to go abreast. The stranger first 
powerfully and respectfully assisted the colossal form of 
Mrs. Tupper down, then, returning, he helped Lillie make 
the trip. As he passed down the steps he held her hand 
tightly, quoting Moore’s homage to the fair sex: 

** O woman I whose form and whose soul 
Are the spell and the light of each path we pursue. 

Whether sunn’d in the tropics or chill’d at the pole, 

If woman be there, then is happiness too. ” 

Jogging along back to the main cave the party visited 
Echo River, where they entered a boat and floated over its 
strange, transparent waters, as if gliding through the air. 

“ May I call out your name. Miss? ” asked the stranger, 
who sat beside her in the craft. 

“ Do, if you please.” 

“ What is it? ” 

“ Lillie.” 

“L-i-l-l-i-e ! ” he shouted, his voice reverberating fully 
twenty seconds. 

“ I am here,” she responded, and as the music of her 
voice came back from the echoing rocks he whispered, 

“ God bless you, I wish you could always be with me.” 

And then she fully identified the stranger. The party 
retraced their steps, and separated at the entrance of the 
cave, all bidding the stranger a friendly adieu. 


CHAPTER XV, 


A FISHING TRIP. 

A few days after the Tupper party had returned to the west^ 
ern city, they were invited to the home of Henry Sanford, 
Esq., a wealthy iron man, whose American house repre- 
sented the Tupper Mills, of Maidestone, England. Mr. 
Sanford, like many wealthy citizens of the metropolis, 
owned a beautiful summer villa on the shores of the tran- 
quil Lake Geneva. It was his custom to invite his friends 
to spend a few days in this picturesque retreat from the 
business world. Arriving at the lake by the lightning 
train on the Northwestern Railroad, Sanford’s steam 
yacht was in readiness to convey the merry party 
up the crystal lake ho their destination. Mrs. Tup- 
per grew enthusiastic as the fleet little steamer flew 
with them past the one hundred magnificent palaces which 
almost boastingly exhibit their stately domes and turrets 
through the openings in the green woods. 

If nature *was guilty in planting the great commercial 
city upon the flattest of prairies, she also deserves credit 
for placing within a two hours’ ride one of the prettiest and 
most charming lakes, to whose fair shores and shaded 
groves, tired, perspiring workers hie themselves annually 
to rest and recuperate. 

Here they bathe in the fresh, clear water, the small sal- 
aried clerk and the millionaire, as free as the aborigines 
did only fifty years ago. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


101 


“ Nature was cunning when she made this lovely lake 
so close to where the big city was to be,” exclaimed Mrs. 
Tupper, as she opened her rather extensive parasol. 

“ Look! look! ” said Fanny, pointing to some boys in a 
small boat near by, who were struggling with all their 
might to land a four pound black bass. 

Mr. Sanford ordered the wheelman to pull up close to 
the boys, who were quite diminutive anglers, and handed 
them a landing net, with which the little fellows, not over 
ten, skilfully landed their prize, amidst the cheers of 
those on the steamer. 

“ To-morrow,” said Mr. Sanford, “ we will have agrand 
day, and, Mrs. Tupper, you must make up your mind to 
catch all the fish you want for dinner,” he said, in a joking 
manner. 

Mrs. Tupper thereupon made a wager with Mrs. Mar- 
gate that she would get the first bite. 

“ What time shall we start? ” asked Lillie and Fanny in 
the same breath. 

‘ ‘ Start,” said Mr. Sanford, taking out his watch by 
habit, “ four o’clock, sharp.” 

“ That’s it,” said Mrs. Tupper, “ you Americans will be 
sure to make hard work of it. Fishing, praying or eating 
all the same. Now, why will it not do to start at nine 
o’clock? ” 

“Nine! Why, my dear, good lady, the fish would be 
asleep by that time. Four o’clock is the time. It is love- 
ly out here on the lake at sunrise, and the air is so balmy 
you never tire. 1 will engage the men, who are to row us, 
to-night, and have the bait ready, and so when I blow the 
horn (you know we have an old-fashioned fog- horn at the 
‘castle’ which would wake the seven sleepers) you must be 
all ready to fall in.” 


102 


THE MH^LIONAIKE TRAMP. 


The girls laughed heartily at the idea, and patient Mrs. 
Margate looked earnestly at Mr. Sanford’s face to see if 
he meant what he said. 

“How about breakfast?” said young Tupper, already 
feeling the effect of the ride on his appetite. 

“Breakfast on the steamer. I will give you as good a 
cup of coffee, made on that boiler over there, as you ever 
drank. We will have to go several miles up the lake to 
the best fishing grounds, and that is the cause of our early 
start,” Mr. Sanford replied. 

Arriving at the elaborate home of the San fords, the 
party passed a pleasant evening in discussing the beauties 
of the lake, and after a refreshing slumber, the fog-horn, 
blown by the stalwart lungs of big Mr. Sanford, echoed 
along the quiet shores, and all dressed in haste to join in 
the anticipated excursion. 

Three villagers of rather seedy appearance occupied seats 
in the stern of the steamer. 

One, a man of middle age and rather intellectual face, 
was none other than the Philosopher. 

When Mr. Sanford had despatched to the town for boat- 
men, the messenger accidentally stumbled across him on 
the dock at the steamboat landing. 

Fishing boats were towed behind the steamer, and 
when the proper point was reached the party divided and 
took to the boats. Harry Sanford and his sister Nellie, 
as lucky anglers as the lake possessed, were with the 
party. 

The other boatmen rowed the large boats occupied by 
Mrs. Margate, Lillie, Fanny, Young Tupper and the two 
young Sanfords, while the Philosopher furnished the mus- 
cle for the boat in which Mr. Sanford and Mrs. Tupper 
were to test their hooks. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


103 


The Philosopher, owing to force of circumstances, had 
not partaken of his usual number of potations, and his 
mind was as clear and brilliant as a Daniel Webster. He 
never spoke a word, however, but rowed hither and 
thither at the command of his employer. 

“Mr. Boatman, what countryman are you?” said Mr. 
Sanford, eyeing him critically for a moment. 

“ I was born in Montreal, but educated in the western 
part of Canada.” 

“ Oh! educated, did you say? ” said Mrs. Tupper, turn- 
ing about and surveying his ragged clothes and rimless 
hat rather ironically. 

“ Educated? What for — the ministry? ” 

“ No, but it is said I can preach a very fair sermon,” 
rejoined the tramp. 

The hooks were baited with minnows, and as the Phi- 
losopher trolled quietly along a few paces from the shore, 
the other occupants of the boat watched eagerly for a nib- 
ble. I think this is a good place along here, said Mr. 
Sanford, casting his long line into a weedy spot for black 
bass; and, true enough, a tug and a jerk indicated some- 
thing firmer than weeds had taken hold of his hook. By 
skilful manipulation a three-pounder was landed into the 
boat, to the infinite delight of Mrs. Tupper and the dis- 
tant hurrah of those in the other boats, who had witnessed 
the successful operation. 

“ I enjoy my leisure hours out here,” said Mr. Sanford, 
with a self-satisfied air. “ It gives one such a rest from 
business cares. By the way, Mrs. Tupper, you are not 
annoyed quite so much in England as we are by these 
tiresome strikes.” 

“ No, but John Tupper becomes greatly annoyed some- 
times with the manager and superintendents at the mills. 


104 


THE MILLIONAIKE TRAME. 


They are SO severe on the men at times, and John, you 
know, bless his heart, is inclined to be so kind.” 

“ Severe with the men, indeed. Why, here we dare not 
even dictate to the men. They would call a union 
meeting and demand the discharge of an overbearing su- 
perintendent at once.” 

The Philosopher was rowing quietly along, listening 
gravely to the conversation. 

“Yes, I understand you have had much trouble in 
America. Of course strikes are not unknown to us ; but 
the men in our mills seem so patient, and work long hours 
without complaining.” 

“ I am sorry to say,” said Mr. Sanford, “ that I expect 
great trouble at no distant day in this country. The so- 
cialistic element is pervading the entire working classes. 
Free speech, the curse of this country, is one cause 
of it. What would you think of a man getting up 
in the public square in Maidestone and talking treason to 
a mob, advising them to cry havoc, plunder, sack and burn 
the town, overthrow the government, hang millionaires to 
lamp posts, and distribute their possessions? ” 

“Horrible!” exclaimed Mrs. Tupper. “But wait, I 
have a bite. Look! ugh! I’ve got him! Mr. Sanford, 
pull in my line, quick! Hurrah! ” the old lady shouted. 

“ It’s only a perch! ” exclaimed the Philosopher, “ a so- 
cialistic perch.” 

“Why so, Mr. Boatman?” laughingly inquired Mr. 
Sanford. 

‘ ‘ The perch is socialistic because he eats up the bait be- 
longing to the black bass, the working man, and has 
caused this good lady much excitement for nothing.” 

“ You are right in one sense,”, said Mr. Sanford, “ the 
socialist is the ‘ ‘ sucker ” who breeds mischief among the 


THE IVULLIONAIRE TKxVAlP. 


105 


working men, and takes away their bread. In fact, makes 
a living by pandering to the vicious elements of this 
class.” 

“You will excuse me, sir,” said the Philosopher, look- 
ing up at Mr. Sanford, whose good knowledge of human 
nature had discerned some remnant of refinement in the 
Philosopher’s address, “ I have studied this labor problem 
considerably of late.” 

Mrs. Tupper, who was examining her late catch, looked 
at the boatman, inquisitively. 

“ Yes; I was thinking this morning of Wendell Phil- 
lips’ words, ‘Never look for an age when the people can 
be quiet and safe; at such times despotism, like a shroud- 
ing mist, steals over the mirror. of freedom.” 

Mrs. Tupper looked at the Philosopher’s rimless 
hat. 

“ The people are quiet to-day, I think,” said Mr. San- 
ford. 

“ I beg to difier from you, sir. The socialistic blather- 
skite I have no interest in whatever,” said the tramp; “ he 
is a pestilential nuisance, and of no earthly use. But the 
working man, the laborer, is not quiet, neither is he safe. 
This class will never be quiet, never be safe, while they are 
in the grasping power of the monopolist. The men who 
pile up large fortunes must, sooner or later, be brought 
to a position where they must decide that on this great, 
free, God-given earth, one man, a millionaire, cannot 
rest and amuse himself with all the enjoyments wealth 
can bestow, out of the semi-slavery of men who toil ten 
or twelve hours a day for a bare pittance, hardly enough 
to keep body and soul together.” 

“ Yes; but, my dear sir, do you call ten to fifteen dol- 
lars per day a pittance? ” 


108 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAJVIP. 


“ Ho! IVe another bite! ” shouted Mrs. Tiipper. 

“It is only a weed, madam,’’ said the Philosopher, 
dryly. 

“ The hours of labor must be reduced,” continued the 
tramp, “ so that toilers can have more time to learn the 
science of self-government.” 

“Yes, but you do not answer my question. Do you 
know that I am paying men as high as fifteen dollars per 
day?” replied Sanford, interested in the pauper’s logic. 
“ Many able lawyers and clergymen do not earn that 
much.” 

“ Yes, that is true,” said the Philosopher, who was 
anxious for an argument, “ but it was the inventive genius 
of some poor workman that produced your labor-saving 
machines, which can be run only by these fifteen-dollar-a- 
day men, instead of the same work being done by twenty, 
as was the case prior to their invention. Then again,” 
continued the tramp, excitedly, “ look at the social bar- 
riers between industry and capital, barriers of pride, caste, 
hatred and bitterness. The workman, or the very inventor 
of your livelihood and success, cannot meet you face to 
face; he cannot discuss with you the details of the business 
you are jointly operating.” 

“ Why not? ” exclaimed Sanford, rather haughtily. 

“ He cannot. He may suggest, he cannot dictate.” 

“ Then you would have the employe dictate to the em- 
ployer, would you, Mr. Boatman?” 

“Not beyond his ability. But I would place men of 
inventive genius, and of equal ability, side by side and 
face to face, be they capitalists or workmen. There should 
exist a conciliatory spirit between the two. Joint boards 
of arbitration should exist. The working element should 
be permitted a hearing on all subjects. Arbitration should 


xHE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


107 


( 


be allowed and encouraged by both parties. The capital- 
ist should come down from his high horse and consider the 
laborer a fit subject to breath this free air, and to talk, eat, 
live and enjoy his life. There would then grow up a high- 
er order of manhood among this people. Education 
would be sought by them. The science of mechanism 
thrives among them, and a rapid advancement in all that 
pertains to perfection in the various branches of trade 
would occur.” 

Mrs. Tupper had dropped her rod and was gazing at the 
logical vairrant. She had never heard such conversation 
from such a ragged individual. But, Mrs. Tupper, you 
good-hearted old lady, we have many such logical, theo- 
retical, but personally impracticable people in this country. 
Men who have the ability to run a nation, but, through 
some defect, cannot earn a meal. 

“ What is your name, my friend? said Mr. Sanford. 

“ I have no name,” answered the Philosopher, indiffer- 
ently, “ I am called the Philosopher.” 

‘‘ You are, indeed, a man of considerable intellect. 
Hold! Row gently. Do you see that line? Steady! 
Now then, pull ahead. Ah! Pve got him,” said Mr. San- 
ford, giving his rod a side jerk, as the reel worked with 
lightning rapidihy. It is a whopper, Pll bet! Now , Phi- 
losopher, easy ; get the landing-net ready. Ah ! ha ! there 
he is, a brave one ; a five pounder if he’s an ounce !” 

Mrs. Tupper applauded, and the engineer in the steamer, 
half a mile away, sounded his steam whistle as he saw the 
big fish glitter in the sun. 

“ You will dine with me to-night, Mr. Boatman, for 
this.” 

Mrs. Tupper looked horrified. 

As the boats returned, Mr. Sanford took the tramp up 


108 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


to the bathroom and ordered him a bath. A suit of re- 
spectable clothes was raked out from a wardrobe, and in- 
stead of the ragged boatman, sat a man who would 
grace the board of any family in America. A man of ex- 
cellent manners, witty, logical, a scholar and a gentleman. 

Mrs. Tupper became deeply interested in Mr. Philoso- 
pher, and she expressed herself anxious and willing to 
assist him out of his forlorn condition. For one evening 
he enjoyed the society of those who awakened in his 
breast the memory of sober, respectable and happy days. 
It was a gleam of sunshine over his shadowed path. 
****** * 
When the excursionists returned to the city, driving 
over a swing bridge they saw by the abutment thereof, a 
man whose clothes were muddy and torn, his face dirty and 
hair unkempt. He was resting his weary head ; his blood- 
shot eyes glared up at the passing carriage. It was the 
Philosopher. 

***** * * 
Harrow was detained later than usual at his place of 
business one evening fixing up some accounts. The 
weather was sultry and he sought the street for fresh air. 
It was growing late, still many pedestrians were hurrying 
to and fro. Now and then a policeman walked lazily by. 
Entering a rather degraded locality he had not proceeded 
far, when from a basement saloon of an exceedingly dingy 
building in what is called the levee, he heard the sound of 
a voice as though someone was lecturing or haranguing 
an audience. Peering into the window, which scarcely 
rose to the level of the sidewalk, he was surprised to see 
upon a platform, wildly gesturing, none other than the 
Philosopher. 

Having become quite interested in this eccentric indi- 




THE MILLIONAIRE TRAjMP. 109 

Yidual, Darrow entered the hall, or “ underground varie- 
ty,” as such places are called, and sat in a remote corner 
so that the Philosopher would not recognize him. This 
was a place of resort for the vilest of the vile. Twenty- 
five half-drunken women, of all ages, sat about beer 
tables drinking beer with as many more men of all grades. 
Among these women were sprinkled young girls whose 
faces even retained a look of modesty, but whose young 
souls crime and degradation had long since captured for 
their own. Old hags whose sottish faces bore the imprint 
of habitual drunkenness and debauchery. Young clerks 
and gray-haired men whose appearance indicated they were 
sadly out of place within those dirty walls. Professional 
thieves, burglars and confidence men made this their head- 
quarters. Behind a bar in one end of the room was a man 
with dark-red curly hair. He was known among the fre- 
quenters of the levee by the appropriate but inelegant 
cognomen, “ Curly.” 

The Philosopher had many a time spent his half-supper- 
less night upon the pillowless benches of Mr. Curly’s thea- 
ter. Mr. Curly was somewhat of a mathematician. He 
always counted that a hanger-on around his place could 
be put to some use. If he could play, or as Mr. Curly 
professionally termed it, fake upon any instrument so as to 
amuse his audiences, he ranked as No. 1 in Curly’s class 
of pupils. 

Thus, should he happen to have a voice for singing and 
could aid in singing a duet with one of the “ ladies,” or 
sing a comic song, or “ do” a good jig or clog, or was 
what Mr. Curly would call a ‘‘ ham-fatter,” a song and 
dance man, or was at all “ celebrated” on the underground 
stage, he would rank on Mr. Curly’s table of sciences as 
No. 2. 


no 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRA3IP. 


No. 3 embraced all manner of what the proprietor 
termed “ worthless bums.” The Philosopher fell within 
that class, and had, owing to his entire inability to per- 
form, not very much claim on Mr. Curly’s forbearance. 
Several times he came near being ejected from the 
premises because he had failed to add one nickel to 
Curly’s exchequer, not being invited to drink by some 
generous customer. 

“ A biznis lookin’ chap’s always good for an invitation. 
Flosopher, yer no good,” he had said, early that evening, 
with disgust portrayed on his prominent under jaw ; ‘ ‘ yer 
can’t fake or hamfat, and 3^er gettin’ too low to cap drinks, 
so yer got to git! D’ye hear? ” 

Before the words had taken effect on the Philosopher a 
“ customer ” passed the tramp a nickel, which granted him 
a little grace with the business-like landlord, who pushed 
the tramp’s half-dime into the till with a dexterous twist 
and passed in return a glass of flat, black-looking lager. 

The Philosopher drank it with one quaff, and resumed 
his seat with an air of one who had accomplished a great 
deed. It appeared that later on some customer had men- 
tioned to Curly that the Philosopher was a rattling good 
temperance lecturer, so the great mind of Professor Curly 
had resolved to use him in a new role. “ Temp’rance fake. 
That’s a good un,” said Mr. Curly, as he lit a cigar. 
“ Let’s have a lecture this evening, he said,” with a 
knowing smile to a musician. “ Call him up, Jim,” he 
said, pointing to the Philosopher, who was half dozing in 
his seat. The Philosopher, believing another beer was in 
sight, sprang with alacrity to the bar at the musician’s 
signal. Curly, leaning over the bar, addressed the Philoso- 
pher; “ Say, cull, can you lecture on temp’rance? ” 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


Ill 


‘‘ What do you want with that? said the Philosopher, 
rather disappointed. 

‘‘ The byes want a speech; when iPs 11: 30 we’ll call 
you; d’ye hear? ” said Curly. “Here you are, and he 
passed over the counter to the Philosopher a black bottle 
and a glass. 

The Philosopher filled it to the brim and saluted the 
scheme. “ It’s a good one,” he said. 

When the hour arrived the Philosopher mounted the 
stage. Curly having plied him with several heavy drinks 
he was ready and willing to perform. 

The hall was then well filled. The Philosopher had 
commenced. Harrow noticed the proprietor of the place 
was busy explaining to several of his audience the fun they 
were about to have. 

The women laughed and derided the Philosopher with 
drunken calls and yells, but Professor Curly ordered 
quietness and his order was supreme. 

As the liquor fired the Philosopher’s fertile brain he 
proceeded eloquently. Many in the audience were sur- 
prised. All but the older drunken hags became interest- 
ed. The glasses stopped jingling, the waiters stood look- 
ing up, tears came to the eyes of the less hardened. 

Curly sat on the counter. At first he joined in the ap- 
plause sarcastically ; then he became silent ; then he turned 
pale with rage and demanded that the Philosopher should 
desist. The Philosopher went on thundering forth elo- 
quent sentences. Powerful oratory it was, full of mag- 
netism ; he fairly electrified this sottish assemblage. 

Outsiders, passing, stopped at the door. Among the 
passers-by that night was one who has done more for the 
unfortunate than all the high-salaried ministers in the 
city put together. A man with a big heart and who goes 
amono* the thorns and thistles of life to find a rose. He 


112 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


was attracted by the sound of the Philosopher’s voice and 
listened at the open window. 

He walked down the steps and leaned against the door. 

The Philosopher was giving a description of his wasted 
life. Curly was sitting on his bar. There was a leer of 
contempt upon his face, but still beseemed interested and 
kept his wild dark eyes fastened on the Philosopher like a 
wildcat. 

“ Such men as that,” yelled the Philosopher, pointing 
to Curly, “ have sent more souls to hell than all — ” 

Before he had finished the sentence. Curly had drawn 
a revolver quick as a flash, and pointing at the Philoso- 
pher, hissed at him : “ Git down or Pll fire the hull top of 
yer head off, yer bum ! ” 

The Philosopher heeded not the request, though inter- 
rupted for the time being. Those in the room sought 
safety under tables and behind chairs, while many ran out. 
The gentleman who had waited at the door came forward 
and requested Curly not to shoot. 

“ Well, let him shut up,” he said, doggedly. 

“ I will take him out,” replied the gentleman. 

Several officers, hearing of the disturbance, had arrived, 
and Curly resumed his business behind the bar ; beckon- 
ing to one of them he ordered the Philosopher’s removal. 

This incident proved a turning-point in the Philosopher’s 
checkered career. It was not long before he became a re- 
formed man, and has since turned the path of many a way- 
farer like himself, and the time has come when the 
Philosopher proves one of the most ardent advocates 
among a class of men who are never properly appreciated 
in a large city — those who take hold of the miserables 
who have become too low to receive charity and spiritual 
sustenance from the high-collared church-member. 










THE MHiLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


113 


It has often been a question in the mind of the author 
whether this class of reformer is not more deserving of 
patronage and praise than the gentleman who administers 
to the spiritual necessities of the oak-pewed aristocracy 
for a stipend of $10,000 per annum and bouquets. 


CHAPTER XVI. 


GETTING FACTS FROM A FOOL. 

“ Truth crushed to earth will rise again.” 

Not lon^ after Lillie’s return to England she endeavored 
to run across Peter, the half idiotic boy at Landsdowne 
Hall. She did not dare to go near the house in search of 
him, but watched for him as he might pass going for the 
cows. Peter was fond of whistling ; he could be heard on 
a still night crossing the fields piping some weird tune, 
perhaps created by the wild imaginings of his partially 
daft brain, or played by the fairy pipers in the thickets; a 
spot which, since the finding of Warren Margate, seemed 
to impress him with great awe. 

Lillie had frequently heard this whistling joskin pass ; 
she could scarcely refrain from rushing after him, so bent 
had she become on interviewing him in regard to the vital 
point upon which she relied so much. 

Day after day, and still no opportunity occurred for a 
meeting. One afternoon, as Lillie sat in the window per- 
forming her accustomed watch, who should come along 
the road toward Maidestone but this very important per- 
sonage. He was pulling a hand-cart, the tire of one of 
the wheels of which was on the box, demonstrating to the 
passer-by that the oaf had met with an accident and was 
en route to the blacksmith shop, which was about a mile 
down the road. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


115 


He whistled loud and clear as he passed Margate’s main 
gate. He had a bright cock’s feather in his rather rusty 
hat, and as he sauntered along pulling the cart, he stopped 
his music at intervals to mutter to himself. He was 
of a noticeable disposition, and at all times and under all 
circumstances brimming over with a sort of imaginary 
mirthfulness. When he saw a little bird on the fence he 
would say, “ ’Elloo, little un, why bean’t thou a singin’? 
what good be ye unless ye sing? ” 

Now and then the cart pulled a little hard, as the road in 
spots had become muddy from a recent shower, and Peter 
would turn towards the cart, and pulling it industriously 
would say, “ Coom along, old feller, coom along, we be a 
goin’ to the shop. Doan’t be so hard pullin’.” 

Then he saw a squirrel on the roadside. This caused a 
complete halt of the cart, whistling and muttering, and he 
gazed after the little animal as it jumped nimbly along 
the fence. 

“ Where be thee goin’? ” he said, “ goin’ to thy supper? 
Is the little uns hungry? Coom to me and I’ll get thee 
nuts.” But the squirrel disappeared, and Pete toted on 
his way. 

Then a small pool by the wayside attracted the idiot’s 
attention. He again stopped, and making a boat from a 
piece of chip he rigged up a sail from part of the feather 
from his hat and blew it across the pool. This caused him 
to grin so widely that the whistling was again suspended. 
He was thus engaged when a gig-cart and pony with Lil- 
lie Margate for a driver came up. 

The joskin pulled his hat over his eyes, and abandoning 
his ship to the merpiless winds, resumed his journey. 

Lillie addressed him. 

“ What a heavy load you have, poor Peter.” The kind 


116 


THE MmLIONAIRE TRAIilP. 


voice, SO unexpected from one of a family whom he had 
been taught to dread, caused him to look up and open his 
unusually capacious mouth. He answered not a word, but 
as he recovered from his astonishment he grinned again. 

“You may hitch your cart behind my gig if you choose,” 
said Lillie. 

This is a proposition which savors of danger, thought 
the fool, and by a powerful attempt at sagacity he grin- 
niugly replied : 

“Ye may run away wid it.” 

“No, indeed, Peter, I will take it to the shop for you, 
and you may ride in the gig with me. ” 

This proposition staggered him. All the traditions of 
horrible deeds committed by the Margates for a century 
back floated before him. He scratched his uncouth head 
for a moment, but an assuring smile from Lillie dispelled 
his woful fancies. 

“ Now, Peter, you know I only want to be kind to you 
and help you carry your load.” 

The idiot gazed steadily at her sweet face for a minute 
without answering. He failed to discover in its expres- 
sion the counterpart of direful hobgoblins, and he half con- 
sented. 

“You are not afraid to ride with me, Peter, surely; I al- 
ways heard you were so brave? ” 

This was a clincher. “ Flatter a fool and he will give 
you half his loaf.” 

He pulled a string from his pocket and commenced ty- 
ing his cart to the springs of the gig. Peter had com- 
promised the contract in his own mind ; he had decided to 
accept the hitch, but ride in the hand-cart. Lillie was sat- 
isfied, as she believed, that by drawing him into a conversa- 
tion she could reason him out of the hand-cart. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TR.\iMP. 


117 









I am afraid the wheel will break, Peter,’' she said. 

He scratched his ungainly head again. 

‘ ‘ Come, get out and ride with me, I will have you there 
in a minute. ” 

He complied and the following dialogue occurred in the 
mile along the road to the smith’s. After some prelimi- 
nary talk she said : 

“Peter, you used to know Lindley, did you not?” 

“ Yes’m,” he replied, munching some candy generously 
bestowed by Lillie with much foresight. 

“ I wonder where he went? ” 

No answer for a minute. — “Lunnun,” he finally an- 
swered. 

“ Did you like him, Peter? ” 

“ Naw,” and he again munched half a sugar stick in his 
capacious maw. 

“ Don’t you remember, Peter, when my brother was 
killed?” 

He looked up with a half frightened stare into her face 
but did not answer. 

“You remember the time, don’t you?” 

He nodded affirmatively. 

“ Did not Lindley often load Master Charles Lands- 
downe’s gun? ” 

Lillie had now struck an interesting vein of thought 
for the idiot. 

“ Yaas; and Maester Charley’d like to ’ave me with ’im, 
but tother farm ’ands wus jellus. I knows , and he grinned 
and giggled aloud. 

“ Oh,” said Lillie, to herself, ‘‘ not such a fool after all.” 

“ People are foolish to be jealous, Mr. Peter, are they 
not? ” 


118 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


“ Yaas,” and he pulled another piece of candy from 
the bag and put it in his mouth. 

The subject of hunting proved exceedingly interesting 
to him. Lillie described vividly to his mind how pleasant 
it was to see the pretty pheasants in the grass. 

“ Yaas, its nice for de sportsman,” laughed the idiot. 

“ Not so for the pheasants, is it, Peter?” 

“ Naw,” and he munched another bull’s eye. 

“Peter, did you ever see a man take a charge of shot 
from a gun without firing it off* ? ” Peter thought a mo- 
ment while he looked in the candy bag. 

“ Yaas.” 

Lillie experienced a cold chill as she waited a reply. 
She stood as if on the brink of a precipice. Upon this 
idiot’s answer the fate of her lover hung suspended. It 
came, and the idiot never divined why Miss Margate 
dropped the lines and turned so deathly pale. 

“ Yaas, (munch) I saw Lindley do it the night afore the 
murder.” (Munch). 

Lillie took a long breath of the invigorating air from 
the clover blossoms. Her heart beat rapidly and she felt 
faint. Away in the distance she saw a vision ot Charles 
Landsdowne coming back. “ He is coming back from over 
the broad ocean. My lover.” 

“ Thank God,” was all the answer she gave the idiot as 
she revived. He was looking in the bottom of the candy bag, 
but the last candy was gone. Shortly the reaction caused 
Lillie to laugh hysterically. 

The blacksmith opened his eyes wide when he saw 
Landsdowne’s fool and the daughter of “ M. P.” Margate 
riding side by side. 

“ I helped poor Peter with his cart,” merrily laughed 
Lillie; “please help him untie it.” 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


119 


The blacksmith raised his hat, and when Miss Lillie 
turned and sped for home, the smith looking after the re- 
tiring gig, exclaimed: “ Ah, she be one of nature’s good 
uns ; not a many like unto she.” 


CHAPTER XVII. 


CALLED BACK. 

Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear. 

When little fears grow great, great love grows there.” 

On her way back Lillie was in a thoughtful frame of 
mind, discussing whether to write to “ Darrow” or not. 

‘ ‘ What assurance have I that this unfortunate Peter would 
adhere to his statement? ’’ she thought. There was one 
thing certain, Peter was not so thoroughly idiotic as she 
had expected. His memory seemed good and why would 
not his testimony be admissible. “Oh, how I wish I were 
a lawyer,” she ejaculated. Thorpe came to mind ; “Too late 
to-day, I must possess myself in patience till to-morrow ; 
my knowledge of Charles’ whereabouts must remain a se- 
cret from Thorpe and the world at present.” Alighting 
from the gig, Wallie came to take the pony to the barn. 

The next morning bright and early Lillie journeyed to 
Maidestone; when she entered Thorpe’s officb, she found 
the little man engaged in deep study. He did not look 
up. He had not seen her since her return from America 
and had not expected her. So overjoyed was he upon 
hearing her voice that he dropped his books with a slam 
and came out from the inner room all smiles. 

“ Why, my brave little ally, how glad I am to see you 
again. I had almost lost courage since your departure. 
I so missed your clever suggestions ; more, in fact, than I 
would derrick’s. How did you enjoy your trip? I called 
on the Tuppers last evening ; they were all so talkative 




THE MH.LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


121 


about the wonders of America that I could not get a word 
in edgewise.’’ 

“ America is lovely,” replied Lillie, only it takes for- 
ever to go anywhere. Why, Mr. Thorpe, they think noth- 
ing of a thousand mile trip by rail. But let me tell you 
about our case, sir; I have more good news.” Thorpe 
rubbed his thin hands together with expectation. 

“Why, surely you did not find Charles in America?’ 
This unexpected capture of the truth caused Lillie to 
change color slightly. 

“ Better luck than that,” said Lillie, adroitly parrying 
Thorpe’s unintentionally embarrassing question. 

“ You amaze me; be seated and tell me all,” said Thorpe, 
seating himself in an adjacent chair. 

“ Well,” began Lillie, “you know you always desired 
so much to find a witness to prove that Lindley extracted 
the charge of shot from Mr. Landsdowne’s gun?” 

‘ ‘Yes, yes,” repeated Thorpe, expectantly. 

“ Well, we have him; I have found him.” 

“ Good ! ” he shouted vehemently, rising to his feet. 
“ God be praised, two-thirds of our battle is won.” 

“Not so fast, sir, for the witness is only half-witted.” 

“ Never mind,” roared Thorpe, “ we will drill him. If 
he saw the act. Miss Margate, and has only half brains, I 
will get the truth out of him ; leave that to me.” 

Thorpe paced the floor with a defiant air ; but coming 
down from his elevated position at once he humbly begged 
Miss Margate’s pardon for the assumption of such egotism. 
“ Why, my dear girl, you are a generalissimo of intellect ; 
how in the wide world did you make this wonderful dis- 
covery? Ah, you are such an assistance to me.” And 
the little man restlessly paced the floor again. 

“ Why, I met this — no, I must never call him idiot 


122 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


again — this poor boy, Peter, who works at Landsdowne 
Hall. I met him on the road lugging a broken cart 
to the smith’s. 

‘ ‘ Yes,” said Thorpe, interested. 

“ Well, I gave him a hitch, that is, hitched his cart be- 
hind my gig, and pumped him. Now, Mr. Thorpe, you 
must not think that since I have been to America I have 
learned to talk slang. But my ! what a time I did have to 
get a word out of the poor lad. But I succeeded.” 

“ Succeeded! I’ll warrant you did,” replied Thorpe en- 
thusiastically. 

“He told me he saw Bindley extract the shot from 
Mr. Landsdowne’s gun and load the musket with the same 
shot.” 

“Good! Good! Splendid!” sang out Thorpe. But at 
once assuming a thoughtful mood he sat down and bit his 
lips. Thumping the table he said emphatically, “ I be- 
lieve I could try the case now!” 

“ Mr. Thorpe, please do try the case !” added Lillie with 
equal vehemence, rising from her seat. 

“ Girl, give me your hand; we’ll do so;” and Lillie ex- 
tended her pretty hand. Looking at each other they be- 
came embarrassed at their ridiculous demonstrativeness. 

“ Pshaw! what are we doing? ” said Thorpe, withdraw- 
ing his delicate hand. “ How can we try the case without 
a defendant to defend ? ” 

“ Perhaps we can produce the defendant,” said Lillie, 
triumphantly. 

“What!” said Thorpe, “is he alive? you are a little 
witch, indeed you are. What else do you know? Tell 
me, fairy. Do you know that Charles Landsdowne is 
well? ” Thorpe was turning pale. 

Lillie cast her eyes to the floor, then, half boldly, look- 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


123 


ing up, her dark eyes beamed on the little lawyer like two 
electric lights. This is to be a secret too, she said, earn- 
estly, never taking her eyes from Thorpe. I mean a pro- 
fessional secret. Judge me as a lawyer too."’ 

“ Yes, I swear by all the honor I ever possessed.” 

“ Then Charles Landsdowne is alive and well. I saw 
him, and under the circumstances he is as happy as can 
be.” 

“ That settles it,” said Thorpe, sinking in his chair. “I 
always believed you smart, now you’re great. You’re 
mighty. You are worth a kingdom. I have nothing 
more to say. You are a heroine and I will secure the ac- 
quittal of Charles Landsdowne or never show my face 
again before a bar of justice.” 

Lillie, happy with the thought of having confessed her 
knowledge to such good purpose, proceeded down the 
steps. Thorpe followed to open the door that led to the 
street, saying; “ Miss Margate, you can send him word to 
come home as soon as you like. God bless you! Good- 
by!” 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Tuppers gave a party shortly after their return, 
and all the elite of Maidestone and the surrounding coun- 
try were present. 

Miss Lillie Margate was the belle of the evening, taste- 
fully dressed in orange and black satin, her pale face, dark 
brown eyes and still darker hair, forming a superb con- 
trast. Entirely devoid of jewelry and ornaments, she was 
unlike the other young ladies present, who were bedecked 
to almost a vulgar degree with the family diamonds and 
ancient jewelry their mothers had worn. Lillie shone 
forth among them resplendent with good sense and mod- 
est gracefulness, which are purer and showier than dia- 
monds. 

Sir Richard Cartwright, a friend of the Tuppers from 
London, and one of the noted members of a great social 
club of that metropolis, was among the guests of the 
evening. 

Cartwright was about thirty-one, tall and handsome; 
one of those clean, boyish faces, illuminated by a pair of 
what girls call roguish eyes, the very kind most young la- 
dies admire and obey. 

Reared in the atmosphere of the dazzling city, amidst 
all its pomps, vanities, gaieties, dissipations, follies and 
foibles, it would simply have been impossible for a man 
possessing the wealth and connections, added to the hilar- 
ious nature of Sir Richard , to remain what the world 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


125 


calls an “ eminently respectable and exemplary young* 
man, ’ but which, unquestionably, his face would indicate* 

Once in a while we meet men of such clear skin and 
juvenile features, that they may go upon a protracted spree 
for ten days, sober up, take a pill, half a gallon of seltzer, 
or both, one good whole night’s sleep, and then turn up 
the following evening at a party, looking the picture of 
unadulterated innocence. A glorious catch for mammas 
with marriageable daughters, or spinsters who are filter- 
ing into the golden afternoon of life. 

Richard could spree, dissipate, be one of the innumer- 
able owls of London one evening, the next attend Lady 
Cawthorne’s grand reception, with a smile as innocent in 
its expression as though copied from one ot Raphael’s 
Cherub’s. 

Lillie Margate, although a girl of uncommon sense and 
far superior to the average country miss in intelligence 
and it might be added, grit, had never yet in her youthful 
career run across this particular kind of man. And Sir 
Richard, somewhat tired of the chronic shams of the city 
society, the laced and painted belles with artificial man- 
ners and manufactured beauty, though even such were far 
too good for him, at once became deeply interested in the 
evening’s belle. 

Old, professional roues are always attracted by innocence 
and maidenly modesty in preference to forward girls, who 
boldly, though perhaps not intentionally, invite their at- 
tention. 

Thus Sir Richard, following in their footsteps, singled 
out Lillie Margate fifteen minutes after the amusements 
and dancing had commenced. 

Mrs. Tupper introduced him as their particular London 
friend, and was sure Miss Margate would be highly enter- 


126 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRA2VIP. 


tained by him with his stories of the great city. The 
dancing had recommenced, and Sir Kichard, an expert 
waltzer, delighted Lillie, who never had met such a part- 
ner in Maidestone society. 

After the second quadrille, which she danced with young 
Tupper, Sir Eichard gallantly invited her to be seated, 
and proceeding to a settee in the back parlor entertained 
her during the time of the next set with some of his witty 
stories. He spoke of Lady Cawthorne’s receptions, and 
how jolly they were, and after picturing in glowing terms 
the many beauties he had seen, he wound up by saying, as 
he peered straight into Lillie’s grand face with his inno- 
cent, boyish eyes : 

“ But you, my dear Miss Margate, are the most graceful 
and lovely of them all.” 

Now it w’ould be absurd to say that this country girl, 
who was almost a stranger to the art of flattery, especially 
when fired from a battery like Sir Eichard Cartwright, did 
not receive a certain impression. She did. She thought 
he was one of the wittiest men she had ever met. She 
had, for the nonce, almost forgotten Charles Landsdowne, 
away oAT, an exile in another land, and as the dancing 
ceased, the lamps turned down and the guests depart- 
ed, leaving her alone with the Tuppers and Sir Eichard in 
the great parlors of the Tupper mansion, an inclination 
stole over her to know more of this city lord. 

Connoisseurs in the art of love-making know precisely 
when to stop to enable the opposite sex to have a chance, 
and it could have been noticed that Sir Eichard 
devoted the balance of the time between the closinof of 
the ball and retiring time relating some of his witty yarns 
to the infinite amusement of Miss Tupper, while Lillie sat 
listening attentively in an easy cliair, with her hand in 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


127 


Mrs. Tupper’s, with whom she occasionally spoke of their 
American trip. 

As Lillie passed up stairs with Miss Tupper to retire, 
the hour hand of the old-fashioned clock in the hall point- 
ed to three. Cartwright stood at the bottom leaning 
against the banisters. Looking up, he said, as if to bothi 

“ Oh, could this delightful evening never end! Good 
night! good night! Thrice happy be thy dreams.” 

But a few minutes later, could the reader have gazed 
into the secret sanctuary of the maiden’s apartment, he 
might have discerned the graceful form of Lillie Margate, 
clothed in the snowy vestments of the night, kneeling by 
her bedside with clasped hands in prayer. Praying for 
whom? One trusting heart away across the fathomless 
deep, and as she offered up her prayer she failed not to ask 
that her wandering lover might be brought back safely to 
enjoy again the comforts and pleasures of a happy home. 

The morning came, and Lillie and Miss Tupper hastened 
to prepare for breakfast. Cartwright, thoroughly accus- 
tomed to late hours, was out walking about the premises 
enjoying a whiff of the morning air. 

The first thing Miss Tupper asked the maid as they 
reached the parlor, was : 

“ Has Sir Richard arisen? ” 

‘‘ Yes’m, he’s been out these two hours, mum.” 

“Yes, indeed, there he is out in the front garden. 
Let us go out, Lillie,” said Miss Tupper. 

Lillie, throwing a red shawl of Mrs. Margate’s over her 
shoulders, and placing Mr. Tapper’s weather-beaten hat, 
twice too large for her, on her head, caving it in on the 
top, and pulling one side down three inches lower than the 
other, and looking prettier than if decorated with a Parisian 
bonnet of the latest style, sallied out indifferently. 


128 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


Had she dressed in her best the flatterer would have 
concluded at once, After me, by Jove,” but with the old 
red shawl all twisted over her graceful shoulder and that 
terrific hat, her face fresh as the sparkling dew still hang- 
ing on the blades of grass, perfectly unconscious of his 
presence, added an irresistible charm in his eyes. Eich- 
ard was delighted to see them. 

“ You both look charming (Poor Miss Tupper was 
one of the homeliest girls in the city) after your evening’s 
dissipation.” 

“ Indeed!” replied Miss Tupper with a gratified smile. 

“ Oh! how I should like to live out in the country and 
inhale this fresh air into my London lungs every morning, 
instead of the everlasting fog, dampness and miasma,” 
Richard said, swelling out his narrow chest and hitting 
himself like an athlete. 

“ However, you are a very fair specimen of miasmatic 
influences,” quoth Lillie. 

‘ ‘ I supposed they did not rise so early in London as we 
do,” joined in Miss Tupper. 

“Sometimes my duties detain me late in the evening, 
and then I occasionally take a late breakfast.” 

He had not gotten up before eleven o’clock for two 
weeks. 

“ I was out at daylight, listening to the birds. What a 
lovely day it will be. I should have aroused you both 
and taken you for a long walk. I am so fond of a stroll, 
especially when I have such charming company.” 

Lillie and Miss Tupper laughed. 

“ You are a born flatterer, I think,” said Lillie. 

“No, now don’t say that. Miss Margate, because I do 
so detest intentional flattery. Let me qualify then by 
saying you both look lovely after your delightful party. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


129 


You know I believe that in the morning, after being up late 
one feels really better than if he had secured a full night’s 
rest. A party, especially if enjoyable, braces one up\nd 
brings the good nature to the surface.” 

Papa wants us all to visit the mills this afternoon.” 

One of the largest nail mills in this section of England, 
and of which John Tupper was presidento 

How would it do to take a drive this morning down 
to Seven Oaks and visit some of mamma’s relatives? ” said 
Fainny Tupper. 

“ Anywhere you say, I am at your disposal for the day,” 
replied his lordship. 

Lillie remarked, ‘‘ I must go home to day.” 

‘ ‘ No, you shan’t do anything of the sort. You shall 
just stay till to-morrow,” rejoined Fanny. 

Cartwright, too, had promised to be back in London by 
evening, but he would like exceedingly well to visit the 
mills, as he, aside from being interested as a stockholder, 
was anxious to witness the performance of a new Ameri- 
can nail mill, lately introduced (although all the interest 
he took in the nail mill was very slight). 

“ Well, there is the breakfast bell, anyway. That we 
can all agree upon. A cup of tea,” said Fanny. 

The morning breeze was bracing and acted as an appe- 
tizer. Mrs. Tupper was fatigued and begged to be ex- 
cused. 

“ We ought to have four to make a party,” exclaimed 
Fanny. 

“Never mind, never mind,” said Lillie, fearing a part- 
ner for Fanny might cause Sir Richard to prove too mo- 
nopolizing. Sir Richard stroked his chest again as he 
walked down the piazza and again complimented the 
country air ; 


130 


THE MULLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


‘ ‘ Oh, what a magnificent drive we will have ! ” 

The family carriage, a big, lumbering vehicle but, 
withal, comfortable, soon appeared. 

“None but honest, practical men like John Tupper 
would own such a rig as that,” sighed Cartwright, as he 
handed the young ladies in one by one. 

They drove along the turnpike. The day proved indeed 
lovely; spring had come. The apple trees were budding 
forth in blossoming splendor; the sweet cadences of the 
robin and lark were wafted over the new green meado ws, the 
sparrows flitted from fence to fence twittering their merry 
chorus. The old-fashioned vine-clad cottages by the road- 
side, and the fairest face in Kent opposite, all charmed 
SirKichard to a degree he had not experienced since child- 
hood. 

The day before them was one of those that calls 
back from the past the tranquil days of childhood, 
the sunny days of long ago, and brings to 
us peace. The busy working of the brain stands still; 
the accumulation of worldly anxiety disappears. Fear, 
remorse, jealousy, and all the weak emotions of the heart, 
are absent, and we find ourselves as in a peaceful sea, sail- 
ing amidst golden islands of pleasant thoughts, and we are 
happy; and, true to life, such serene moments frequently 
usher in some bitter disappointment. 

The excursion was full of joy. They sang, 
laughed, and made fun of everything they saw sus- 
ceptible of ridicule. They acted like school children. At 
length Seven Oaks was reached. The party dined at an 
old-fashioned inn — this was done to continue the merri- 
ment. 

“ It will kill us to visit mamma’s staid, matter-of-fact 
sister,” said Fanny. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


131 


“ Yes, but you must deliver your message,” replied 
Lillie. 

So they decided to drive over to ‘ ‘ Aunt Martha’s ” house 
and deliver it. 

Fanny got out of the carriage, leaving Lillie alone with 
Sir Richard. 

The merriment ceased. 

Lillie sat in the corner of the large carriage diagonally 
opposite and as far away from Cartwright as she could 
get. 

“Do you often come to Maidestone, Sir Richard? ” she 
said. 

“ No, it is over a year since I visited the mills, and then 
I remained only till the next train. Now I have enjoyed 
myself so richly I shall come again, and if I do I wonder 
if I shall see you. You, I mean in particular, who 
have made it so extremely entertaining for me. In fact, 
to tell the truth. Miss Margate, I almost dislike to return 
so soon, leaving behind me ” — he hesitated as if in doubt 
to proceed — “ such — such — ” 

“ Pleasant memories of the party at Tapper’s,” said Lil- 
lie, helping him out. 

“Yes. Well, yes, the party — and the waltz we 
had.” 

“ Now, now, you who have attended such grand balls 
and receptions in London must have looked upon last 
night’s affair as tame in comparison.” 

“ I do not always have such a partner as I had last 
night,” he answered, innocently. 

“ Compliments again,” responded Lillie; “ Sir Richard, 
I am beginning to believe, is synonymous with flatterer.” 

“ Truth is not flattery,” he said, with another of his 
cherubic smiles. 


132 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAIVIP. 


“ Thanks, then, for your compliment; but you cannot 
consider me a perfect waltzer, Sir Kichard.” 

‘ ‘ I may not be a competent judge, but your dancing 
pleased me,” he said, emphasising the last word, “and 
that was why I was so happy last night — yes and all day, 
too. It must be the heavenly light of j^our eyes, or some 
other wonderful influence you young women possess over 
us poor mortal men.” He sighed. He looked at Lillie 
with an expression of sadness upon his handsome, boyish 
face. 

“It was the variety of a country party, and forming 
the acquaintance of a stupid country girl, that made the 
spice of your visit, I think,” said Lillie, laughing, and dis- 
playing a row of pearly teeth. 

“You are a little witch, a charming little witch, 
and you have bewitched me, I am afraid.” 

“ Pshaw! Flatterers are not very susceptible victims 
to the black art.’^ 

“ You don’t mean that,” he replied, again assuming his 
boyish, innocent air. 

“ Listen, Miss Margate, I have a friend. Lady Caw- 
thorne, who gives a grand reception in London next 
month ; how I wish you could come. I will have her en- 
close your family an invitation if you will allow me. You 
must come. If you do not shine as the beauty of the even- 
ing I will confess my error,” said Sir Kichard emphatic- 
ally. 

Lillie found she was getting into deep water with this 
innocent young lord, and she felt half inclined to refuse 
this strange invitation. 

“ A young country maiden may propose, but wise 
mammas dispose in this case,” she said. 

“Yes, but Archibald Margate, Member of Parliament, 





certainly will not refuse to acquaint his daughter with his 
peers. Why, I believe a young lady forfeits the best part 
of her existence when refused the enchanting whirl of ex- 
citement in the gay society of London.” 

Lillie remained silent. ^ 

“ Think what a chance for a young belle, Miss Margate, 
here you are shut out from the world.” 

He was talking eloquently but still there was some- 
thing in his manner that the keen perception of the coun- 
try maiden discerned was of a selfish motive. 

“Yes, but where ignorance is bliss, Tis folly to goto 
London to see these grand things and then become unhap- 
py. Better a happy country girl than a languid society 
belle. I quote your very words.” 

“ Here is Miss Fanny coming, you will not mention our 
conversation to her;” he spoke earnestly. “You will 
come; please say you will. I believe you are themost sensi- 
ble young woman I ever metP 

“ Mamma must be consulted,” was the only answer Lillie 
gave him. 

“ Thanks,” said Sir Richard, leaning forward to kiss 
Lillie's hand, which she quickly withdrew, her dark eyes 
flashing like fire, while upon her lovely face there appeared 
an expression of haughty pride, which seemed to say^ 
“ Be you prince or nobleman I allow no one to take 
such liberty,” which only added an additional charm to 
her exquisite face, and caused the irrepressible young lord 
to fairly worship her. He jumped out of the carriage to 
assist Miss Fanny, and they soon resumed their hilarity. 

Returning to Maidestone they visited the nail mills, 
the manager, Mr. Thomas, escorting them. Thomas was 
a thorough mechanic, artizan, and gentleman, a happy and 
extremely useful combination in any country. 



134 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


He knew a great deal more than he dared or cared to tell 
about Sir Kichard, and when he saw Miss Margate’s sweet 
face in his company, he suspected that the attraction to 
the mills for his lordship was the company and not the 
supposed inteijftst in their welfare 

The walk about the seething furnaces and mechanical 
contrivances proved very interesting to Lillie, as Sir Kich- 
ard discussed their various uses. 

“ Now those men,” he said, “ are feeders; ” pointing to 
the nailers ; “see what a respectable lot they are. They 
draw very large pay, I tell you — far more than many law- 
yers or rectors of country churches. 

“These poor fellows,” pointing to the feeders, “ work 
harder and do not get half the pay.” 

“ Quite unfair,” said Lillie, looking them over, “ but 
they dress better and seem to pay little attention to their 
surroundings.” 

Thomas was nearly choking as he suppressed a good 
laugh. “ He has got it precisely wrong,” he said to Miss 
Fanny. 

Fanny replied, “ Sir Richard seems to be very much en- 
tertained with my friend. Miss Margate, does he not? ” 

“ How long have they been acquainted? ” said Thomas, 
with a business air. 

“ Only a short time. They met at our house last night 
for the first time. He is so nice,” said Fanny, with a half 
sigh. 

Thomas hesitated a moment before replying. 

“ Yes, he is nice, that is, what young ladies, who do not 
know such a man, usually term nice.” 

“ Why, Mr. Thomas, what do you mean? ” 

“ I must only give you a hint. It would not do for me 
to say any more. Miss Fanny. He visits a certain fashion- 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


135 


able lady in London, Lady Cawthorne; he may desire to 
invite you and Miss Margate to attend one of these recep- 
tions; all I must say to you is, Don’t go! ” 

The carriage brought back the merry visitors. Sir 
Richard returned to London. Fanny Tupper surprised 
Lillie by whispering to her as they kissed and parted; 

“ Don’t go to Lady Cawthorne’s.” 

* * * * * * 




James Darrow had passed a restless night in his Ameri- 
can abode; occasionally he lost himself in a fitful slumber, 
but he heard the clock strike all the hours till daylight, 
when he fell into a deep sleep. In a dream he thought 
he saw Lillie with her face turned away from him. He 
was not superstitious, but he had never seen her in his 
imaginings, except when the light of her face beamed up- 
on him like a guiding star, conveying hope and strength. 
He awoke and tossed about upon his pillow uneasily. “ It 
could not be. Turned from me! Oh, could I but see her 
face again ! ” he exclaimed. “ One reassuring look, one 
sweet smile.” 


^ * * * * * * 

A few days after Lillie returned home she decided to go 
to Thorpe’s office again, and arrange to send for Charles. 

She had struggled hard to overcome her inclination to 
attend Lady Cawthorne’s reception in London. Her 
mother favored it, which made it harder still. 

‘‘ What has my poor Charles suffered? What a selfish 
girl I am. Pooh! Sir Richard! Pshaw! Nothing but 
a flirt and flatterer! ” She pouted her pretty mouth and 
shook her head. “ I will not go there and be made a tar- 
get for their critical eyes. I won’t go ! ” and she stamped 
that graceful foot and jarred the lamps in her room. 

But then the loadstone of curiosity will draw w’ith 


136 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


twice the strength of a woman’s determination. Then a 
doubt came. 

“ Perhaps I am doing a very foolish thing to keep up 
this clandestine courtship with Charles Landsdowne,” she 
sighed. “ It may cause me more trouble than I can bear. 
What shall I do? I will go to the London party. No, I 
won’t. What a vacillating thing I am. I don’t know 
what to do. Yes; I will be true to my first and only 
love,” and she burst into a fiood of tears. 

Believing a ride would do her good and having promised 
to mail some letters for her father, she had Wallie hitch up 
the pony and went to town. 

“ I will speak to Thorpe, the enthusiastic but at the 
same time constant, matter-of-fact Thorpe.” 

Arriving at the lawyer’s office she found Thorpe engaged 
with derricks, the detective. Thorpe arose, and dismissed 
derricks. He was so excited about his interview with 
the detective that he unintentionally omitted to salute his 
“ lovely ally,” as he called Lillie-, except as a farmer would 
salute a merchant to whom he wanted to sell a load of 
hay. 

“ Your view is correct, derricks says you have struck 
it. His theory exactly, and he is willing to stake his 
reputation now that Lindley fired the fatal shot. He has 
discovered by the aid of a microscope, that the pickles 
were pulled out and not fired. Why, the parts of the very 
cartridge have been found, pulled to pieces, not exploded. 
The spiral screw on the end of the ramrod fits the holes 
made in the cartridge, and Charles Landsdowne is safe.” 

The latter sentence was delivered with a powerful ora- 
torical emphasis. 

After a few minutes’ conversation Lillie talked of the 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


137 




I- 


party atTupper’s, and mentioned Sir Richard Cartwright’s 
name. As the words escaped from her lips, Thorpe, who 
had resumed his seat, jumped to his feet, and exclaimed; 

“ The biggest scoundrel in England! ” 

“ Why, you astonish me, Mr. Thorpe.” 

“ Yes, my dear young lady, but I know what I am talk- 
ing about. Have nothing to do with him, Miss Margate. 
Avoid him as you would a snake. Why I Why, this is 
terrible ! Terrible but true, and many true things are 
terrible, and I could tell you things about him which are 
indeed terrible! The young monster! Stories which 
would be unfit for your innocent ears ! The young heart- 
breaker! ” 

Lillie thanked Thorpe and wended her way to Tupper’s. 

“ Heart-breaker is it, indeed! Oh, that is not all! I 
am not afraid of him, the egotist.” • 

Upon meeting Fanny she was still more surprised to 
learn that Mrs. Tupper and Fanny had been invited to 
Lady Cawthorne’s reception, and Mrs. Tupper had re- 
solved to go, and that was all Fanny could say. 

“ But, Fanny, what in the world made you whisper 
those alarming and portentous words when we last met, 
and then so decisively change your mind? ” said Lillie^ 
somewhat provoked. 

“ Why, I must tell you all, my pet,” said Fanny, tak- 
ing Lillie by the hand, patronizingly. “ Mr. Thomas, the 
superintendent of the mill, gave me a hint about Sir Rich- 
ard and Lady Cawthorne, and I mentioned it to mamma 
when the invitation came, but she only said, ‘Fudge! 
that Mr. Thomas has always some wonderful gossip to re- 
late, or knows of some great strike or happening about to 
take place, which never does.’ Mamma does not believe 
a thing against Sir Richard, except that he may be a little 


138 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


wild, and she says his face indicates that even that accusa- 
tion is exaggerated.” 

This strategy of Sir Kichard’s in inviting the Tuppers 
was a clinching argument, and Lillie determined to go, 
come what would. 

On her way home Lillie called again at Thorpe’s to 
learn when she should convey news to Landsdowne. Be- 
fore she left Thorpe had dictated a cablegram, which read : 

“Darrow: — All safe, return at once. 

(Signed,) 


Thorpe.” 


CHAPTER XIX. 


cuBiosrry. 

“ He who ascends to mountain-tops shall find 
The loftiest peaks most wrapped in clouds and snow.” 

The amount of curiosity developed in a young woman of 
twenty has never yet been ascertained by weight or 
measurement ; suffice it to say that it will at times out- 
weigh all the sound judgment with which she may be 
endowed, and occasionally rush her into the very jaws of 
danger and intrigue. 

Lillie Margate had, after her visit to Thorpe’s, fully de- 
cided not to attend Lady Cawthorne’s reception. But the 
Tupper’s were going, and, worse than all, she had just 
noticed in the Illustrated London News a graphic descrip- 
tion and elaborate artistic representation of a late royal 
reception. “Mamma is almost crazy to have me go ; I 
will not be over-polite to him. Sir ! Sir ! Sir ! The horrid 
monster!” she exclaimed, as she shook her graceful little 
head with determination. 

******* 

On the deck of one of the magnificent vessels of the In- 
man Line one peaceful night, Charles Landsdowne sat 
watching the long line of silver the calm sea reflected from 
the moon. He had smoked his third cigar. 

He was in a quiet frame of mind, meditating over his 
immediate future. Every revolution of the great wheel 
was carrying him nearer to England and those he loved. 
Now came to his vision the same pale and lovely girl. Her 


140 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP, 


eyes he would soon look into. Her encouraging words soon 
hear. 

Only to be near her, only to see her face again. 

“ All safe, return at once.” These words were a light 
from a light-house peering through the darkness of his dis- 
content, bringing hope and safety to his shipwrecked soul. 

“ God bless her,” he would say, and then cruel fancies 
would arise and horrible suspicions would come. 

“Perhaps it may not turn out as she supposes. Never 
mind. Heaven protect her. Should fate turn against me 
I will thank her and bless her, respect and love her for all 
she has done.” Old Tom’s haggard features came before 
him. The wrecked life, a grand and eloquent lecture on 
the misfortunes of an honest man, “Poor old man, what 
a heart, to leave me the wealth that should have been used 
in his life for his comfort and support.” 

A few days after the vessel steamed proudly into Liver- 
pool, and Landsdowne went immediately to London, where 
he intended to converse with Thorpe before giving himself 
into the hands of the law. 


CHAPTER XX. 

THE SQUIKE AND THE CLUB. — “ CASTLES IN THE AIR.” 

Squire Landsdowne, since the departure of his son and 
the election to parliament of Archibald Margate, seemed to 
lose all interest in Landsdowne Hall. He visited London 
quite often and there became acquainted with several 
members of a mercantile club; being an old gentleman of 
convivial tastes, he soon formed the habit of enjoying his 
evenings away from home ; so much so, that it soon got 
whispered about the neighborhood, that the old Squire 
was taking his dinners too late and his potations too fre- 
quently. 

Every business or social club has its Mulberry Sellers, 
and it was to the great projects and marvelous schemes of 
a certain enthusiast and visionary named Felix Brandon, 
that Squire Landsdowne gave ear and thought: 

One night Mr. Brandon had a wonderful scheme to 
elucidate. It was to buy up the stock of a certain foreign 
corporation, ‘‘ water it,” and thereby reap a golden 
harvest. 

“ An entire mint in it, my dear Squire,” Felix would 
say, with his arm on the Squire’s shoulder familiarly, con- 
veying in his tone a magnetic enthusiasm which would 
almost raise the confiding Squire’s hair. 

Mr. Brandon had made a study of the manner of 
approaching men with capital. He had done this all his 
life. There was an air of profound secrecy in his man- 


142 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


ner. No one should overhear their conversation. They 
sat together in a high-backed old-fashioned settee, gazing 
into the bright coals, the medium through whose ruddy 
light are usually seen the unfinished and undefined mythical 
Spanish castles, which so seldom are completed. 

“ I am almost afraid,” said the Squire, “ that it will be 
impossible for me to raise the sufficient sum — £30,000 is 
a considerable sum to put in your hands in a week, the 
time allotted to close this important purchase. I have 
expended considerable on my place during the past few 
years. ” Felix Brandon, Esq. , put his long forefinger across 
his prominent forehead and looked again into the red coals 
for a full minute. Then sipping his half emptied glass of 
port, he said slowly and cautiously, “I believe it will 
take but £25,000 at the start. Squire,” as if £25,000 was a 
mere trifle to such a monied magnate as Felix Brandon, 
Esq. “ Or, my dear Squire, how thoughtless I am. Why^ 
I can advance you part of the sum; I never thought of 
that;” turning about on the settee so as to face the Squire, 
he said, “ I do not really see the necessity of your raising 
one penny over £20,000 at present. In fact 1 am positive 
I can move the rest.” Move was a pet word with Brandon. 
He could move anything with the necessary cash on hand. 
The Squire was delighted at the reduction of the sum. 
The fumes of the port on top of a layer of good old brandy 
which he had taken at supper, were strengthening his 
determination to go into the scheme. 

Felix Brandon was a dealer in stocks. He occupied an 
office on Bond street and dealt in all manner of securities. 
He was frequently engaged by prominent bankers and cor- 
porations to unload stocks which by reason of a prospective 
decline were not considered good property. No actual 
charge of dishonesty had ever been laid at his door, but 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


143 


he did not stand as high among the better class of brokers 
as he might. He was reserved and told his business 
to no one. He was visionary to such a degree that 
he had wrecked three fortunes of his own. At the 
club he was careful to seldom introduce any business 
negotiations with other brokers, or members of the Ex- 
change. Knowing something of the Squire^s nature by 
observation, he had studied up his wealth; he knew, in fact, 
that £20,000 was about all the Squire could well aflbrd to 
lose. 

“I will go in,” the Squire at length remarked, “ I 
can raise the sum.” 

“Now, I would suggest as a matter of precaution, 
my dear Squire, that I guarantee you from any loss.” 
This was another pet phrase of Brandon’s — guarantee. 

“ Also I know that the stock of this company can be so 
manipulated that we will clear ninety per cent; yes, ninety 
per cent, in three months. What will the great ‘ M. P.’ 
Margate say then? What will all the Maidestone people 
say then?” 

The Squire, looking again into the ambitious coals, 
pondered over these pointed arguments so well put 
by the crafty Brandon. When the sturdy Squire once 
made up his mind he was as firm as a rock. “ Well, sir, I 
will do it,” he said, turning to Brandon, whose nerves 
were quivering at the Squire’s hesitation. 

“ Let us shake on it,” replied the adroit Brandon, rising 

and extending his trembling hand. 

^ * * * * * * 

The killing frost of life is when we awake from a dream 
of confidence in a fellow mortal, and find that he has not 
only misplaced our confidence, friendship and esteem, but 
our funds. 


144 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 




It took Squire Landsdowne just one month to discover 
that Felix Brandon, private banker and dealer in stocks, 
had merely laid a trap for him, baiting the same witli 
bombastic eloquence, garnished with roasted and savory 
falsehoods, and that he, Squire Landsdowne, was the inno- 
cent and unsuspecting rabbit that had been caught, cer- 
tainly and decisively. 

The wonderful advantages of the foreign corporation 
seemed to evaporate into exceedingly fine vapor, no 
matter how much the same stock was watered. It 
was the last meeting he had intended to hold with Mr. F. 
Brandon. His counsel advised him to put no more money 
into the scheme; not even to hire him and spend money in 
law fees. To commence criminal proceedings against Mr. 
Brandon and his confederates was the only means at his 
command to recover any portion of his money, and even 
then the prospect of proving anything was doubtful. But 
still retaining a remnant of faith in Brandon, the Squire 
called to plead with him. The artful broker was sur- 
prised at the demand of the Squire. “ Why, we are on 
the very eve of success,” and he begged and implored that 
the Squire should put in just a few thousand more. Cha- 
grined and disgusted the Squire left the club-room, slam- 
ming the door, and declared it was the last slam he would 
ever give the door of the ‘‘Merchants’, and Country Gren- 
tlemen’s Club.” 

“ No son, no fortune, no friends,” he exclaimed bitterly 
as he walked down the steps, his voice full of emotion, 
his eyes down in deep meditation. He almost stumbled 
into the arms of a passer-by, who had evidently overheard 
his last remark. The pedestrian looked up hurriedly 
with an exclamation of joy. “ My God, it is my boy I” ex- 
claimed the elder of the two, as he clasped his arms 


THE MmLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


145 


firmly around Charles Landsdowne^s neck and wept like 
a child. 

All his earthly troubles were merged in the one great 
comfort; “ My boy is alive and safe.” 

“ Cheer up, father, never mind your loss. We will go 
to work and make it up again.” 

“ Oh, Charles, my darling boy, why did you not let me 
know where you were. My boy! My boy!” he repeated, 
keeping his strong arm tightly about him. “You will 
never leave me again, will you?” 

On the way to the station they passed a brilliantly 
lighted mansion. A grand ball was in progress. Charles 
Landsdowne noticed as they walked by, the name hewed 
in the carriage foot-stone, — 

CAWTHORNE. 

On the train to Maidestone Squire Landsdowne’s Saxon 
grit overcame his weaker emotions, when he learned the 
true story of the accident, and all the fight in the old 
man’s nature was aroused. 

“Not guilty, my boy, that is all I want to know, and I 
dare the world, I dare the world.” 


CHAPTER XXI, 


LADY CAWTHOENE. 

“No visor does become black villainy 
So well as soft and tender flattery.” 

Flattery, thou double-hiced siren, wilt thou dare seduce the 
innocent and pure alike with the brazen and the bad? 

The great halls and palace drawing-rooms of gay Lady 
Crawthorne’s elaborate London mansion fairly gleamed 
with gasiliers, rich curtains, massive mirrors with ponder- 
ous frames, rare paintings of fabulous value, carpets as 
velvety as a meadow lawn — all that art could suggest 
and wealth procure. 

Carriages were coming, greetings exchanged. 

“ What a glorious night we’ll have, Simpkins,” said Sir 
Eichard Cartright to a young swell, who leaned languidly 
against the mammoth staircase. 

“Ah, yes, Witchard,” was the effeminate reply. 

“ By Jove, I won’t, unless a certain party comes, 
Simp,” said Eichard, digging Mr. Simpkins rather hard in 
the ribs. 

“ Say, old fellow, p way, don’t be so demonstrative,” re- 
plied the swell. 

“ Wait till you see her — the belle of Kent.” 

“Belle of Kent! Ha! Ha! Didn’t knaw Kent 
evahhada belle,” and Mr. Mortimer Simpkins looked up 
languidly at the bright roguish face of Sir Eichard to see 
if his joke was appreciated. 

“Wait, old man, till you see her; wait till you turn 




THE MH.LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


147 


. those tired eyes of yours upon her. It will refresh them, 
you old deceiver,” and he digged Mr. Simpkins again in 
the ribs. 

“ It seems to me, Witchard, you are deucedly playful to- 
night ; would you, deah boy, exhibit respwect for my shirt 
fwont,if not for my wibs?” 

Kichard moved away towards the door. “ I wish she 
would come.” A merry voice followed by a matronly 
lady ; then another light merry voice and a very heavy 
matronly lady. 

“Good,” exclaimed Sir Kichard, throwing away all 
formality, and rushing to the door he welcomed them like 
a son and a brother. 

Lillie’s good resolutions not to be over sociable with Sir 
Richard floated away in the perfumed atmosphere of the 
gorgeous parlors. 

Lady Cawthorne was a woman who had wonderful control 
over herself. Cradled and raised in a society of London, 
which glittered more by the display of wealth than the 
honest gleam of refinement and honor. She was an 
actress born, but had never appeared before the foot- 
lights — a beautiful society woman, with all the graces that 
the art of etiquette can bestow. Powerful to a wonder- 
ful degree in ability to entertain. Ofiering to the visitor 
a loving smile of welcome, so enthusiastic, — “So happy to 
see you. You are so welcome!” 

Shaking both hands of Lillie’s at once, and kissing her 
fondly, she exclaimed; “My dear, good girl, I am so 
happy to think you accepted my invitation. Come with 
me, I will wait upon you myself.” 

Tripping nimbly up stairs, she helped Lillie and Mrs. 
Tupper enrobe. First time she had done anything of 
the sort for years. When she walked down stairs she 


148 


THE MDjLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


hissed between her teeth : The little country minx, how- 

pretty she is.” 

Lillie was robed magnificently, but entirely void of 
ornaments. Every eye in the room was constantly turn- 
ing upon her. 

“Who is she? Who is she? asked several ladies of 
Sir Eichard. 

“The belle of Kent!” he answered, proudly. 

The belle of Kent became whispered about, and many 
sought an introduction. Lillie was at first slightly em- 
barrassed, but as the excitement increased and the ball 
proceeded, she found herself becoming enchanted by 
the dazzling display, and her innocent heart palpitated 
with delight and triumph at being regarded the belle of 
the evening, where shone so many lovely competitors 
for that honor. 

As the evening progressed, Lady Cawthorne called Lil- 
lie to one side, saying patronizingly in her too susceptible 
ear: ‘‘ Why, my dear, do you know that you have created 
quite a sensation, you lovely little thing? I was not 
aware when Sir Eichard told me he was going to invite 
the loveliest girl in Kent that I would find his promise so 
happily verified,” and she gave Lillie an affectionate and 
admiring kiss. 

An hour later Lady Cawthorne stood in the main hall. 
Looking through the reception-room door, she saAv Sir 
Eichard talking earnestly to Lillie. Lady Cawthorne’s 
eyes were fixed on him like a basilisk. 

“ Curse him and his new-found country jade,” were 
precisely the words this lady of social rank spoke. As 
she turned upon her dainty heel she almost ran into Mor- 
timer Simpkins, to whom she laughingly apologized, when 
her heart was as heavy as lead. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


149 


This woman was in love with Richard. 

Henry Cawthorne, baronet, was wholly wrapped in 
business ; owner and manager of an immense fortune. His 
sole purpose in life seemed to be the study of its increase. 
He was building a railroad in India, and had been absent 
five months. 

He cared nothing for society. “ If I can only keep my 
pretty wife at home with her everlasting receptions till I 
have this road running in good shape,” he said to a friend, 
“ I will consider I am in excellent luck.” 

He wrote to her once a month. 

His last letter contained a full description of a bridge 
they were building over a pass in the mountains. He con- 
cluded with the following words of affection : 

“ Dear little woman, I sincerely hope you are en- 
joying yourself. I was much pleased with the description 
of your last delightful reception ; get up another. Do any 
thing you like to pass the time, my pet, and keep you in- 
terested till my return. Your husband, 

Ca’vvthorne.” 

Sir Richard Cartwright little believed when he invited 
Lillie Margate to Lady Cawthorne’s that before two 
hours would pass in her company he would be so head 
over heels in love with that young country lady, that with- 
out her, life to him would be a burdensome blank. “There 
she is,” he said, rapturously, “ and why is it I cannot turn 
my eyes from her one moment? Brace up, old man,” he 
said to himself, “ and don’t give way to this ridiculous 
passion.” 

Supper was over and those present were conversing in 
small groups. Lillie was sitting in the front parlor, 
near a window fronting the main street. The lamps 


150 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


surrounding the mansion lit up the trees and shrubbery. 
Sir Richard came and asked permission to sit beside her, 
which was granted. Sir Richard seemed to have lost his 
cheerfulness. 

“ I want to have a little talk with you,” he said. 

“ I wondered where you had gone,” Lillie replied. 

“ I must confess I was ungallant in not excusing my- 
self, but I was afraid I might exceed my welcome by 
pursuing you too ardently. Why did you come to this 
front window? ” 

“ I love to look out on the street. It is such a chanore 
for us from the country to see the brilliantly lighted 
streets.” 

“ How I wish you lived in London; how I could 
enjoy your company to the opera and the theatres, and 
what a delightful time we could all have. Lady Caw- 
thorne is so very fond of you.” 

‘‘She is a lovely lady; one of the most fascinating I 
ever met.” 

“ I used to think so,” said Cartwright, sadly, looking 
out of the window, “ but — well — I won’t say it. You will 
accuse me of flattering.” 

“ Well, you are becoming so matter-of-fact, sir, of late, 
that I may have changed my mind as to that.” 

“ Now, you believe me to be a flirt. Miss Margate? ” 
He put this question decisively. 

“Now, don’t ask me such a leading question. You 
remind me of country lawyer, Mr. Thorpe, when you talk 
that way.” 

At the mention of this name Sir Richard changed color. 

“ Thorpe, Thorpe, that name is familiar. Where does 
he reside?” 


THE MILLIONAIKE TRAMP. 


151 


In Maidestone. I have heard him mention your name.” 

“ My name?” and Sir Richard grew a shade paler. 

“ Nothing very strange in that,” she said. “You are 
well known in Maidestone.” 

Sir Richard, resuming his self-complacency and sus- 
pecting Miss Margate may have heard a small particle too 
much concerning him, opened his battery of self-defence, 
thus : 

“ Miss Margate, were you acquainted with the ways of 
the world as I am, you would conclude that the ways of a 
young lord are not all pleasantness and peace. For the past 
five years I have been, to a certain extent, slandered and 
blackmailed; that is, I happen to be an intimate friend of 

Lord , and I will admit that while out on many a 

little lark together, which was really nothing more than 
boys’ play, we may have done some things which laid us 
open to censure and criticism; but, telling the truth, 
I personally was not to blame. In order to shield him 
(on account of his mother), in a spirit of boyish reckless- 
ness I allowed myself to be compromised. Not wishing to 
bore you with any account of our escapades, I merely 
want to ask one thing, and that is, do not come to a con- 
clusion about me without sifting the accusation, and you 
will find that I have been perfectly honorable, although 
very foolishly I have allowed my name to be connected 
with a rather scandalous proceeding.” 

Talk of this kind to a country girl of Lillie’s temperament 
caused her to look upon Sir Richard as a loyal friend and a 
a sincere martyr. 

“I am exceedingly sorry for you,” she said, biting her 
lips. “You are brave, but I can scarcely see the necessity 
of your fidelity to such a reckless confrere.” 


152 


THE MILLIONAIKE TRAMP. 


“ The public are too fond of coupling his name with some 
intrigue, and the truth of the whole matter is, Miss Mar- 
gate, that there was really nothing in the accusation that 
would cause your cheek to blush, or your sweet lips to cry 
shame.” 

Lillie looked out of the window at the bright lights 
pensively. 

Sir Richard had moved a little closer to ner on the sofa. 

“ Would that this night could last always,” he said, in 
a sorrowful manner. His big, sincere eyes looking into 
Lillie’s face. 

“You don’t really mean that,” she said, puzzled as to 
his meaning. 

“ Miss Margate, why do you always believe me insincere. 
Sincerity has been the motto of the Cartwrights for ages.” 

“I don’t know. You have told me so many wonderful 
things that your stories seem like fairy tales.” 

“Yes, and you seem like a bright, fairy enchantress, 
who has crossed my path. Why, I know not.” 

Lillie, becoming agitated at Sir Richard’s earnestness, 
moved slightly away from him. 

Looking into his boyish, pleasant face, she saw nothing 
but truth and honor. She was sorry for him for the mo- 
ment. 

“You will go home to-morrow and leave me here so 
lonely,” he said, persuasively. “I am almost sorry we 
met.” 

“Sorry? Why?” she said, innocently. 

“Why? Miss Margate, will I tell you the truth?” 

The music had recommenced. They were dancing in 
the adjoining parlor. Lillie was still gazing out into the 
lighted street. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


153 


“ The truth is, Miss Lillie Margate, I love you with all 
my soul.” 

As Sir Richard spoke these words two men passed the 
window arm in arm. The light gleamed on the face of 
Charles Landsdowne. Lillie Margate uttered a piercing 
shriek and fainted. 


CHAPTER XXIL 


THE BUTTERFLY SOCIETY OF LONDON. 

“ Trust not him that seems a saint.” 

“ I never knew her to faint that way in all my life,” said 
Mrs. Margate, anxiously. 

‘ ‘ It was something she saw out of the window, I be- 
lieve,” said Sir Richard, excitedly; “I am sure I saw 
nothing ; we were chatting pleasantly about London. ” 

Recovering from her faint Lillie retired to her room 
with Mrs. Tupper, her mamma, and several ladies. 

The guests were departing, and Lillie and her mother 
and Mrs. and Miss Tupper were to remain till the ensuing 
day. 

Mrs. Tupper had enjoyed the evening thoroughly, talked 
with every one, and insisted on dancing, to the infinite 
delight of Mortimer Simpkins, who more than once peered 
at her through his single-barrelled eye-glass, saying; 

“By Jove, she’s a doocedly clevah old lady, and ex- 
ceedingly fond of fun.” 

Lillie had gone down stairs to recover a lost fan. As 
she looked out of the window where she had been sitting: 
with Sir Richard, her attention was attracted to a drunken 
man on the street whom an officer was lugging along as 
best he could. 

“ Ah, there is the dark side of life in this great city,” 
Lillie exclaimed. “ Under the lamps of gay society all is 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


155 


peaceful, promising and happy ; out on the streets the 
miserable wrecks of broken lives wander about, cold, 
hungry and forsaken.” 

Thus pondering, she heard steps in the hall. It was Sir 
Richard; he was conversing with Lady Cawthorne, who 
had accompanied him to the door. Lady Cawthorne 
ordered the butler to retire. Lillie, fearing she should be 
seen, stood in the shadow of the large Avindow curtain. 
She noticed by the tone of Lady Cawthorne’s voice, that 
she Avas angry at Sir Richard. Lillie’s ear caught every 
remarkable word. 

“ Dick, you’re a naughty, miserable flirt, that’s just 
Avhat you are, and I’ve a good mind not to kiss you good- 
night ; I’ve been so jealous all the evening that I am half 
sick.” 

“Now, sweetheart, that is a magnificent condition of 
things. You jealous of that little country thing ! Why, 
I merely wanted to have a little flirtation ; that’s all, so 
help me, darling. Noav forgive me, I will never do so 
again.” Lillie was dumbfounded and crouched down on 
the floor. 

“Yes, but she is so lovely.” 

“ Yes, rather, but no sense; green as a meadow. I am 
all over my semi-infatuation now. Sweet countess, kiss 
me ; that Louis Roderer (wine) went to my head and I 
made a fool of myself. Yes, just one little kiss; I love 
you better than a thousand simple maids of Kent.” 

‘ ‘ No, I shall not. You’re as mean as mean can be. I 
hated you to-night. You ought to have seen me look at 
her ; my eyes must have flashed. Kiss me ; there, no av go.” 

“ Sweet countess, shall we go to the opera to-morrow 
evening?” 

“ No, the next evening. I feel better now ; 


156 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


Tin all over my tantrum ; you love me, don’t you ? Come 
and see me the minute these people go. Now, remem- 
ber,” and she put her arm lovingly around his neck. “No 
more flirtations with the belle of Kent. The little 
wretch,” added Lady Cawthorne. “ She was in high glory 
to-night, wasn’t she? She believed herself admired by 
the entire assemblage.” 

“Curiosity and admiration are very far apart,” suggested 
Kichard. 

“ Grood-night, love,” and the door slammed. 

Lillie’s first impulse was to wish she could sink through 
the floor where she lay, and leave London by a direct route 
via the center of the earth. Her next was to inform her 
mother, but this she knew would cause a scene, and the — 
Oh, my! should Mrs. Tupper hear of it, great goodness! 
She would pack up and leave the house at midnight or any 
other time. I must keep this also a secret.” 

“Well, that is London society,” she continued. “I 
have had enough. To think I have even listened to 
tales of love from that brute. No wonder the apparition 
of Charles Landsdowne’s honest face appeared through the 
window and frightened me into a fliint. Charles Lands- 
downe. God bless him ; now I know his worth. Never 
again shall I look at Sir Kichard Cartwright.” Over- 
whelmed with shame and disgust by what she had heard 
and witnessed, Lillie sought her room as soon as Lady 
Cawthorne retired. She longed for sleep to hide the un- 
pleasant vision of Sir Richard and Lady Cawthorne from 
her thoughts. 

“ Fanny,” she said to Miss Tupper; she was rubbing her 
eyes and was half awake. “ What do you think of all 
this?” 

“ Oh, it’s so tiresome,” yawned Fanny, who had not half 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAIUP. 


157 


enjoyed herself. (Yawn.) What do you think about it 
Lillie? 

“I? Why, I have seen enough ; plenty! The hollow 
shams of city society cannot be compared to the honest, 
respectable and true joyousness of a good, old-fashioned 
country party. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


HOME. 

“ And like a bird that froin the flowers, 

Wing- weary seeks her iv^anted nest. 

My spirit, e’en in manhood’s hours, 

Turns back in childhood’s home to rest.” 

“ Charles Landsdowne is at home,” were the words that 
greeted them on their arrival at Maidestone. 

And when the Margate family carriage, which met them 
in the town, pulled up at the front door of their home, 
Wallie assisted them out. Lillie waited to ask him the 
news. 

“Your laddie has gang to his hame,” whispered Wallie, 
pointing towards Landsdowne Hall. 

He had raised his cap, and as he turned toward Lillie he 
exhibited a portentous look upon his wrinkled face. 

“ Is he at home ? ” 

“ The officers called th’ morning; I fully spected to see 
them pass here, bairn, wie him, puir lad.” He shook his 
head ominously. 

“ There they be, now. Nae, there’s bit one, tither has 
stayed wie young meister.” Soon a vehicle passed the 
gate with but one officer in it and no Landsdowne. Then 
Thorpe’s sulky came in sight. 

“ Wallie! Wallie! ” said Lillie, excitedly. “ Put the 
pony in the gig at once; I want to see Mr. Thorpe.” 

Wallie obeyed and Lillie’s fleet-footed pony overtook 
Thorpe’s lazy cob in a few minutes. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


159 


“ Home? ’’ said Lillie, as she drove her pony neck and 
neck with Thorpe’s bob- tail. Thorpe was startled at the 
unexpected visit. 

“Yes, yes, my dear girl, home ; the boy is home ; I have 
effected a temporary compromise. He is to remain at 
home in charge of an officer until I can make an effort to 
procure bail. I am afraid it is impossible, however, to 
change the order of the indictment that he be held with- 
out bail. But I will never despair till I try. At any rate 
he will not remain a prisoner long. ’ ’ 

“ Prisoner! ” said Lillie, with a shudder. “ That’s ter- 
rible!” 

“ Here is some one coming,” said Thorpe. 

“ Yes, I must say good-bye,” replied Lillie, urging the 
pony along and turning in to the Fielding’s, to have a chat 
with Nellie Fielding about the cominof trial. 

In the evening she saw a carriage pass. It contained 
an officer and Charles Landsdowne. News had come that 
no bail could be accepted. 

She walked down to the gate as the carriage passed. 

Landsdowne raised his hat with his manacled hands ; 
she noticed a smile on his face which seemed radiant with 
hope. She raised her handkerchief, the carriage rolled 
along, and as she turned to retrace her steps, she wept 
bitterly. 

Old Wallie was pruning some apple trees in the orchard. 
He had witnessed the scene. “ He’el ne’er coom back, 
my puir lassie, he’el ne’er coom back,” he exclaimed, out of 
her hearing. 

Charles Landsdowne’s reception by his mother was 
affecting to a painful degree. Since the Squire had almost 
forsaken Landsdowne Hall, she had become full of vague 
doubts and fears for him. Grrief during the past year had 


160 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAJVIP. 


added much to the weight of her declining years. There- 
fore, when she saw him first, instead of experiencing the 
joy a mother feels for the return of her boy, she hid her 
hands and wept as though her heart would break. 

After a few assuring remarks and comforting words from 
him she soon resumed her former cheerfulness and blessed 
him for his bravery in coming back. “ Now I know you 
are innocent, my blessed boy,” spoke the mother, as she 
again folded him to her heart. 

The day preceding the trial, Landsdowne, for the first 
time since his return to England, experienced a sense of 
nervousness and evil forebodings. He looked at the grim 
walls about him, to obtain a grain of comfort from some 
object in view, but there was none. The warden of the 
prison, a great friend of Thorpe’s, came in with a small 
parcel, for which Landsdowne thanked him. The com- 
fortable looking warden whispered a reply with a know- 
ing smile on his full face. 

“ This is against the rules, young friend, but I see no 
harm in it.” 

The package had been torn open at one end. In the center 
was a beautiful red rose, and attached to it a tiny card, with 
the words, in Lillie Margate’s handwriting; “Yours for- 
ever, Lillie.” Landsdowne kissed the rose several times, 
and soon cast away all gloominess. “ Yours forever,” 
sounded in his ears like a revelation from another world. 
That night a sound, peaceful si umber brought repose to his 
troubled mind, and when he awoke, he felt as brave and 
reliant as if he were going on a pleasure excursion instead 
of about to be arraigned to answer such a dreadful charge. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


THE TRIAL. 

“ Of Grod she sung and of the 
Mild attendant mercy.” 

’Twas a dull day in Maidestone ; farmers from the neigh- 
borhood of Landsdowne Hall arrived with their waofons to 
attend the trial ; some of them had come prepared to stay 
a week. 

The criminal court hall in the old court house was 
crowded, many ladies having secured front seats by com- 
ing early. Thorpe, dressed in his best court gown , his thin 
face shaven and a scrupulously clean appearance all about 
him, was busily engaged examining the indictment. Jer- 
ricks sat quietly eyeing the prisoner in the box with his 
steely gray eyes, evidently reading a history from his 
physiognomy. The judge, with powdered wig and black 
gown, sat chatting to Sir Cole Jerrold, of London, as if it 
were no new thing to preside over a murder trial. 

The panel of jurymen had not yet taken their seats. The 
clerk was about to call their names. The Queen’s coun- 
sel, Mr. Sidney Blake, was hunting up decisions from 
various digests. Charles Landsdowne, the prisoner, was 
seated in the odd-fashioned seat known as the prisoner’s 
box. Surrounding him were his father and several 
acquaintances. 

The jury had taken their seats. Mr. Blake commenced 
by stating the position taken by the prosecution. He also 


162 


THE MH.LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


claimed that he should prove by circumstantial as well as 
by direct evidence that the prisoner was guilty. 

derricks never removed his eyes for one moment from 
Blake during his opening speech, which lasted about half 
an hour. 

Thorpe, assisted by two able lights of the London bar, 
sat noting down every point made by Blake. Thorpe 
responded by a few prefacing remarks prior to the intro- 
duction of the evidence. 

The first witness called for the crown was old Wallie, 
who walked up to the witness stand with an air of 
sadness. 

He testified to finding the body of Warren Margate ; 
the handkerchief of the prisoner stained with blood near 
the corpse; the finding of young Margate’s gun with 
both barrels loaded ; also the gun of the prisoner with 
one barrel evidently discharged. 

He also testified to the fact of his having seen young 
Margate alive the night previous to the affair ; the carry- 
ing of the body home, and other particulars with which 
the reader is familiar. Mr. Blake drew out additional 
testimony from the old gardener, much against his will, in 
relation to the family feud having existed “ lang since al 
remimberance.” 

John Tague swore that Warren Margate had asked him 
in relation to the shooting in the thicket, and that young 
Margate had evidently gone there for that purpose and 
no other. On the cross-examination old Tague said he 
had heard Bindley threaten Warren Margate’s life before 
the shooting. After the physicians had testified as to the 
post mortem examination and the cause of death, and 
several minor witnesses as to the flight and absence of 
Landsdowne, the most important witness for the crown 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


163 


was called, William Lindley, who stepped to the stand in 
his usual sullen manner, amid whispering and murmuring 
in the assemblage. 

Lindley, who was now undergoing a sentence in prison, 
was allowed to don citizen’s clothes while ofivinsf evidence. 
Charles Landsdowne turned as he entered and looked him 
full in the face with a searching glance, derricks also 
moved his seat and listened attentively to the evidence. 
Lindley’s face was pale but determined, knowing his 
testimony was his only escape. 

He started out by relating, in a confused way, the 
details of the shooting, following as closely his former 
statement as his memory would permit. He reiterated 
emphatically that he saw Landsdowne deliberately shoot 
young Margate in “ cold blood.” At the conclusion of 
his testimony all eyes turned on the prisoner, some 
expressing a look of sympathy, but many revenge, horror 
and hate. 

Mr. Blake here rested the case, and the court adjourned 
for the day. 

The next morning Mr. Thorpe and Sir Cole Jerrold, 
one of the ablest cross-examiners in London, opened their 
fortifications on Mr. Lindley, and to-day the full record 
of this case, cited in the Old Bailey Calendar, and which 
it would be impracticable and tedious to give here, exhib- 
its one of the shrewdest and most effective cross-examin- 
ations ever made of a leading witness in a trial of this 
kind. 

Sir Cole Jerrold said in a quiet, unassuming way : ‘ ‘ Mr. 
Lindley, do you say that you have told the court and jury 
all that transpired on that eventful day?” 

“Yes, sir.” 


164 


THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


“You say positively that Charles Landsdowne com- 
mitted the act and you saw him?” 

“ Yes ” 

“ What were you doin^ at the time? Why were you 
there? State briefly, please.” 

“ I were mendin’ the fence, sir, for Squire Landsdowne.” 

“ What were you doing with the musket in your 
hands?” 

Mr. Blake objected to the question. No musket was 
brought out in the direct examination. 

The Chief Justice: “ The witness may answer whether 
he had a musket or not.” 

Bindley turned paler and hesitated fully a minute. Sir 
Cole continued: “ The musket did not hurt you; tell u& 
about it.” 

“ I don’t remember, sir,” he muttered. 

“ Defective memory, eh? You remembered the shoot- 
ing quite well. Now, Mr. Bindley, tell us the truth. 
You had the old musket that used to hang up in the store- 
room of Landsdowne Hall, did you not?” 

“ I might ’ave ’ad it,” scratching his head as if trying 
to think. 

“Yes, you undoubtedly had,” said Sir Cole, sternly. 

Mr. Blake objected to this system of cross-examination, 
but Sir Cole replied: ‘‘The system may be bad, but we 
are getting some interesting information all the same.” 

“What do you propose to prove by the musket?” 
retorted Mr. Blake, sarcastically. 

Thorpe’s ferret eyes twinkled merrily. Even derricks 
winked and allowed a smile to play on his hard lips. 

“ Well, i ’ad it, sir,” finally conceded Mr. Bindley. 

“Yes, you had that old musket on the day of the 






THE MH^LIONAIRE TRAMP. 


165 


shooting, did you not, and at the time you say you saw 
the prisoner fire at the late Mr. Margate? 

Hesitating again. “Yes, sir.’’ 

“ What were you doing with it? ” 

“Oh, I h’only took it h’out in case I should scare up a 
bit o’ game, sir,” answered Lindley, pleased with the 
inventive answer. 

“ Well, you found the game, did you not? ” 

“ No, sir,” replied Lindley, again looking disturbed. 
“You said you stood by the stone fence when you saw 
the prisoner shoot the deceased? ” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“ Now,” said Sir Cole Jerrold, coming forward and look- 
ing Lindley in the eye, “ did you not stand by the stone 
fence and shoot Warren Margate yourself? ” 

Sensation in the court room. 

Lindley trembled and turned deathly pale. ‘ ‘ No— no — 
sir.” 

“ Now, you did not shoot any game, you said? How did 
the musket become unloaded? ” 

“ I don’t know, sir.” 

“ Where did you find this musket? ” 

“ In the store-room at the ’all, sir.” 

“ When did you load it? ” 

“ I didn’t load it, sir. 

“ Oh, you were going to shoot grouse with air, were 


you 


“No, sir. It were loaded afore I got it.” 

Sir Cole Jerrold thought a moment. 

“ Were you in the habit of cleaning Mr. Charles Lands- 
downe’s gun? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 


166 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


“ Did you clean it the night before he went shooting 
that time? ’’ 

“I cleaned the h’outside, sir.” 

“ On the ramrod there was a spiral screw, was there 
not? ” 

Lindley looked aghast. “I don’t know, sir.” 

“ Yes, you do. Now, tell the truth! That is what 
you are here for,” roared Sir Cole. 

“ Well, I believes there were such a screw.” 

“ Did you have any powder or shot?” 

“ Yes, I loaded” — 

Lindley had said too much. 

“Oh, you loaded the musket with powder and shot? ” 

“ Yes — no, sir.” 

“ Which do you mean? ” 

“You bother me, sir.” 

“Yes, I am sorry for that. But you loaded the mus- 
ket, did you not? ” 

Mr. Blake denied the right of Sir Jerrold to put these 
questions in this matter without having foundation laid 
for them. 

“ The foundation will be erected after the walls, in this 
case,” he replied. 

“ But I seriously object,” continued Blake. 

“ My intention is to show by the witness that the pris- 
oner did not commit the crime alleged ; that it was com- 
mitted by the witness.” (Sensation.) 

“ Then I certainly will object on the ground that the 
witness cannot be made to criminate himself, if upon no 
other,” said Blake. 

This was just what Sir Cole Jerrold wanted. To put 
the prosecution’s leading witness in a shape that he could 
not answer on the ground that he would criminate himself. 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


167 


Leaning over to Thorpe, Sir Cole whispered; “ How 
are we getting on? ” 

Thorpe answered, “Grand! Grand!” 

“ Then I will again ask you if Squire Landsdowne 
allowed the farm hands to have powder and shot on the 
premises? ” 

“No, sir.” 

“ Where did you get the powder? ” 

‘ ‘ It was blasting pow — ” 

“ Hold,” said Blake, “ do not answer.” 

Lindley looked nonplussed. 

“ Where did you get the shot? ” 

“ For the same reason, don’t answer,” yelled Blake. 
“You are giving your side of the case a very bad ap- 
pearance, Mr. Blake, by refusing me this answer.” 

“ It does not amount to anything and has no relevancy,” 
said Blake. 

“ Then please let him answer it to please me,” said Sir 
Cole, in a winning way.” 

“ I don’t care if he does.” 

“ I bought it.” 

“Where?” 

“ I don’t know, years ago in London.” 

“ Now, are you satisfied. Sir Jerrold?” 

“ Yes, I am satisfied, that is untrue.” 

“Now, that is not right,” said Blake angrily, to Sir Jer- 
rold. 

“ No, I am sure it is not.” 

“ What was the number of the shot you bought in Lon- 
don? ” 

“ No. 5.” 

“ Are you sure? ” 

“ Yes, sir, I think so.” 


168 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


Blake jumped to his feet again and demanded that his 
witness be not compelled to answer, on the ground that he 
might criminate himself. “ I don’t know how this may 
prejudice the jury and it is illegal and not according to the 
rules of evidence, and Sir Jerrold knows it.” 

“ Let the cross-examination proceed,’ said the Chief 
Justice, evidently very much interested in the witness’ 
testimony. “ In matters of this kind the courts will give 
every leniency to the prisoner. But you must not forget 
that Mr. Bindley, the witness, is not on trial.” 

“ We’ll have him on trial before long,” said Sir Cole 
Jerrold, boldly. 

“ What did you do with the musket after you left the 
thicket? ” 

Bindley again looked bewildered at Blake to see if he 
should answer. 

“ Oh, tell him,” said Blake, annoyed at the question. 

“ I took it home.” 

“ How was it that it was found in the thicket? ” Object- 
ed to by Blake as there was no evidence before the court. 

“Only to save time. Chief Justice; we have testimony 
to that effect.” 

Bindley heard the last remark and pondered on it. “I 
may have left it in the thicket. I was so ’fraid, sir, arter 
seein’ the shootin’, I didn’t know what to do.” 

“ Did you not have a quarrel with young Margate prior 
to the shooting? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“And you threatened to kill him, did you not? ” 

“ I don’t recollect.” 

“ That will do for the present.” 

THIRD day’s trial. 

Witnesses for the defence were called. John Wilson, a 





THE MILLIONAIKE TRAMP. 


169 


farm hand at Landsdowne Hall, swore he saw the old 
musket alluded to three days prior to the shooting; that 
it was in the store-room, broken and unloaded; that he 
saw Lindley repairing it the next day after his fight with 
Margate. Details of Lindley’s blackened eyes and appear- 
ance were given. That Lindley left the house early on the 
morning of the shooting with the old musket, or something 
like it. Witness was at a distance. 

“ Did he return with it? ’’ 

“ No sir; he did not have it when he returned.” 

That he heard Lindley threaten to kill young Margate 
and call him terrible names. 

The next witness examined was Peter. 

‘‘ Don’t know any other name. Folks always call me 
‘ Foolish Pete.’ Don’t know the reason why.” 

Blake objected ; he did not believe witness understood 
the nature or solemnity of an oath. 

‘‘We shall see,” said Sir Cole. 

“ Mr. Peter, where were you born? ” 

“Lunnun.” 

“ Before we hear his testimony I will insist upon his 
being examined with that object in view.” 

“ Do you understand the nature of an oath, sir? ” said 
Blake. Peter grinned. 

“ Quite the proper course to take,” said the Chief Jus- 
tice. “Allow me to ask him. Where were you born? ” 

“ In the poor house.” 

“You consider yourself capable to testify, do you?” 
Peter grinned again and nodded affirmatively. 

‘ ‘ What is an oath? ” 

“ To swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and noth- 
ing but the truth.” 






,j33£Siia 


170 


THE MHiLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


“ Ha, ha!” said Sir Cole, “a better definition than you 
could give, Blake.” 

“ Do you know what your punishment would be if you 
swore to a falsehood? ” asked the Chief Justice. 

“ Yaas, sir; go to hell.” 

“Well, that is true; but what punishment on earth? 

“ Aboot four or five years in jail.” (Titter in the audi- 
ence). 

“ How long have you lived at Landsdowne Hall? ” 

“ Ten years.” 

“ Whom do you work for? ” 

‘ ‘ Squire Landsdowne,” pointing to the Squire. 

The Chief Justice suggested that Squire Landsdowne 
be sworn. 

“ Squire, do you believe this boy understands the nature 
of an oath? ” 

“ I am sure he does,” the Squire responded. 

‘‘ Can he be trusted to perform the usual chores and 
duties about the farm? ” 

“ Yes; and furthermore I have always found him truth- 
ful, honest and faithful. 

“ Let him be sworn,” said the Chief Justice, with a toss 
of his head at Blake’s interference. 

“Mr. Thorpe, examine the witness,” said Sir Cole 
Jerrold. 

“ Mr. Peter,” said Thorpe, “ where were you the even- 
ing before Mr. Margate was killed? ” 

“ At Landsdowne Hall.” 

“ Did you see Lindley that evening? ” 

“ Yaas,” nodding his head. 

“ Where was he? ” 

“In back kitchen.” 

“ What was he doing? ” 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


171 


“ Fixin’ auld musket.” 

“ Did you see him load the musket? ” 

“ Yaas.” 

“ Where did he get the powder? ” 

“It was the blastin’ powder from the barn. I knowed 
where he got it.” 

Where did he get the shot? ” Peter grinned at the 
query and looked at the jury. Every eye in the court 
room was riveted upon him and a deep silence prevailed. 

“ He pulled it out of Maester Charles’ gun with the 
ramrod.” 

“ Who told you to say this? ” exclaimed Blake. Peter 
grinned at him, not deigning a reply. 

“ He pulled out the shot, piece by piece, this way,” and 
Peter described, in his idiotic way — which was dramatic 
owing to the intense interest prevailing, even Blake 
being silenced for the nonce — how Bindley twisted the 
ramrod to break the cartridge. 

“ When he loaded the musket did he put the shot or 
powder in first? ” interrupted Blake. 

Peter looked at him sarcastically. “Ain’t you smart?” 
was all the answer he gave the Queen’s counsel. Laugh- 
ter and suppressed applause. 

“ He loaded the old musket. I thought he was foolin' 
at first. Then I went out to feed the dogs. When I 
corned back he didn’t see I.” 

“What did he say? ” 

“ He were mutterin’ to hisself.” 

“ Do you remember what words you heard? ” 

“Yaas. He said he’d— he’d ’’—looking at the Chief 
Justice he asked, “ Can I say the bad words he said? ” 

“Yes, sir; tell it all.” 


172 


THE MmLIONAIKE TRAMP. 


“ He said, ‘ This will blow the young devil’s damned 
brains out.’” 

“ Whom did he mean? ” 

“ I didn’t know then ; now I do. Young Mr. Margate. 
There be witches over in them thickets,” he added, as his 
daft brain took another turn. 

“ Nevermind the witches now, Peter,” suggested Thorpe. 

“ How do you know that Lindley wanted to kill young 
Margate? ” 

“ ’Cause he said day afore he’d kill young Maester Mar- 
gate if he’d hang hundred feet high, he did.” 

Blake looked crestfallen at this statement. 

derricks’ gray eyes fairly snapped. Sir Cole Jerrold 
stretched his long legs out in a self-satisfied manner. 
The Chief Justice leaned back in the large judicial chair 
and watched the eflfect this testimony was having on the 
jury. 

The clock struck five; the court adjourned for the 
fourth day of the trial. 

Peter was detained by order of the court during the 
night, no one being allowed to converse with him in 
regard to the case. 


CHAPTER XXV. 


GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY. 

“A heart unspotted is not easily daunted.” 

At the opening of the fourth day Peter was rigidly 
cross-examined by Mr. Blake without eliciting any change 
in his statements of the day before. When the Queen’s 
counsel would badger him he would grin complacently, 
but he never was puzzled or embarrassed. Peter had 
grown to dislike Mr. Blake, and ridiculed his questions as 
unworthy of answer. When Blake asked him if he had 
not been told to give this testimony at Landsdowne Hall, 
Peter replied, “You think everybody be a rascal like 
thou, don’t ye? This reply fairly convulsed the curious 
on the back seat, and in fact brought a smile to the 
stately face of the Lord Chief Justice. Blake looked dis- 
gusted for a moment at the reply, but recovering his 
usual suavity immediately, tossed his head at Peter, and 
laughing out with the rest said, “ There, now you may go.” 

The next witness called by the defence produced a sensa- 
tion throughout the court chamber, — Miss Lillie Margate. 
Charles Landsdowne exhibited for the first time during 
the trial considerable agitation. As Miss Margate removed 
her veil, displaying her face to the eager eyes of the nu- 
merous barristers within the paling, whisperings became 
too audible, and the bailiff rapped for silence. 

“ I have met Mr. Landsdowne and know him quite 


174 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


well. We attend the same church.” Squire Landsdowne, 
who sat near by, looked up at her with a half frightened 
stare, as if expecting some evidence detrimental to his 
son. 

She proved that no ill feeling had ever existed 
between this last generation of Landsdownes and Mar- 
gates, to her knowledge, and although never allowed to 
associate with young Mr. Landsdowne because of some 
ancient family feud, never fully comprehended the reason. 

Answer to Sir Cole Jerrold : 

“ I am sure Mr. Charles Landsdowne never entertained 
the slightest animosity toward my poor brother. I con- 
versed with the prisoner — I mean Mr. Landsdowne — the 
day before the tragedy. He was warm in his expressions 
of friendliness and said he longed for the time when the 
feud would end.” 

Blake was about to stop her testimony as irrelevant. 
One look from the eagle eyes of Sir Cole changed his 
mind. Blake refused to examine the witness. 

Charles Landsdowne never thoroughly knew what love 
was until he had listened to the sworn testimony of the 
last witness. 

Eloquent speeches were made on both sides, and Thorpe, 
the little nervous man, outdid himself. He arose and sur- 
veyed the jury. 

“My client’s life,” he said, “is in your hands, and I 
believe it is safe ; but a serious charge rests on you to-day, 
gentlemen. It is not that you will do your duty as men 
living under the laws of a Christian country that causes 
me alarm, it is that the learned and ingenious counsel for 
the crown may succeed in raising before you such a weight 
of circumstantial evidence against the prisoner that will 
place you in a position where what you would suppose 


THE >JU.EIONAIllE TRA31P. 


175 


was your duty might cause you to decide unfavorably to 
him. Would that the Almighty would open your eyes to 
see the truth. On that single word I could rest my case. 
But here we have an unfortunate chain of apparent evi- 
dence to contend with. Could I but picture to your 
minds the fact that there sits in that prisoner’s box a 
young man whose generous impulses, noble characteristics 
and manliness would make it impossible for such as he to 
commit the atrocious, cowardly act that transpired in the 
thicket! Is it possible for a young man whose previous 
history is respectable, honorable and kind, to change in a 
flash into a red-handed and cowardly assassin? I say, 
gentlemen, it is not nature! It is not so! It is impossible! 

“ That this murder was committed we do not attempt to 
deny, but that any malice existed, or ground for trouble, 
between deceased and Charles Landsdowne, we emphatic- 
ally do deny. (Murmuring and whispering in court.) 

“That Charles Landsdowne committed the act you do 
not in your hearts believe. You know he did not. 
And it has been proved here on this trial that as 
strong a chain of circumstantial evidence as was ever 
wound around a prisoner in the annals of this country, has 
been about the witness, Wm. Lindley, whom it is out of 
our jurisdiction to try (he having turned Queen’s evidence). 

“ The flight of Charles Landsdowne can be accounted 
for. He believed he had killed young Margate by an 
accidental shot, knowing that no one would ever believe 
there was no malice existing between them; not knowing 
that behind that stone fence in the thicket, musket in 
hand, with heart full of hatred, malice and revenge, stood 
the cowardly murderer of poor Warren Margate. The 
sportsman’s gun of Charles Landsdowne, and the assas- 
sinating musket of William Lindley were fired siniulta- 


176 


THE MmLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


neously. The first by the accidental bending of a bough, 
while the prisoner was aiming at some game, the latter 
by the murderous fore-finger of the man Lindley, whom 
we have shown to have led a villain’s life from his cradle up. 

“Now, gentlemen,” growing vigorously eloquent, 
“ which evidence will you accept, the whining, cowardly 
confession of a convict, or the unimpeachable statement 
of poor Peter, whose mind may wander at times, but 
whose testimony could not be shaken by the adroit, 
lengthy and painstaking cross-examination of the learned 
Queen’s counsel, because he spoke the truth? All the 
lawyers on earth cannot change that. That is my text to- 
day. 

“ Did you not notice the pale face and trembling form 
of William Lindley when he discovered that Sir Cole 
Jerrold knew the musket story as well as he ? 

******* 

“ I know you have arrived at the truth. I feel it in 
my heart. I see it in your eyes. I believe the Almighty 
has looked down from above and pointed out to you, and 
each of you, the truth.” 

At the close of Thorpe’s remarks a general feeling of 
satisfaction seemed to pervade the atmosphere of the 
court room. 

It was seven o’clock p. m. when the jury retired. All 
the assemblage except those immediately connected with 
the case dispersed. The gas was dimly burning in the 
court chambers. The jury had been out two hours. Nine, 
the old bell in the court-house tower tolled. A pale face 
hidden by a veil and accompanied by Mrs. and Master 
Tupper, peeped in and inquired in a whisper of a bailiff, 
“Any news ? ” 


THE MHiLlONAIRE TRAIMP. 


177 


“No, marm,” the bailiff replied, half asleep, rubbing 
his eyes. “ It may take hours.’’ 

Ten o’clock came. A knock at the door; a hum of 
voices in the corridor : 

“ They have agreed! ” 

The Chief Justice had stated that if the jury agreed 
upon a verdict prior to the hour ten, if sent for he would 
come. In he marched sternly with his associates. The 
prisoner was brought in between two officers. The lights 
were turned up ; the usual deep silence prevailed. 
Soon quite a number of townspeople, who had heard that 
the jury had agreed, began flocking into court. Charles 
Landsdowne was pale but firm. The Squire sat near his 
son. 

The court asked the foreman in a measured tone of 
voice, “ Have the jury agreed upon their verdict? ” 

“We have, j^our worship.^’ 

“Then state your verdict.” 

The foreman replied, “Not guilty.” 

The future happiness of two lives was suspended on this 
answer. 

A woman’s shriek was heard in the back seats. Lillie 
Margate had fallen in a dead faint, and Charles Lands- 
downe shed tears for the first time since the accusation. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


LIBEETr. 

“ Thou mak’st the gloomy face of nature gay, 

Givest beauty to the sun, and pleasure to the day.” 

The second day after the trial dawned serene and beau- 
tiful. Charles Landsdowne arose early, and walked about 
the dear old home, that had so kindly sheltered him 
from his earliest remembrance. The birds in the trees 
seemed to sing with a freedom. The farm hands were 
bustling about, laughing and joking. The maids were 
singing at their work ; in fact all nature seemed to beam 
forth a pleasant welcome to the freed prisoner. 

A heavy weight had been lifted from the Squire’s 
heart. He was in his study, where he usually sat an hour 
in the morning, figuring up to see how long it would 
take to repay the debt on the farm, — the borrowed sum he 
had so foolishly squandered. Charles had determined 
that the first stroke of business he would perform after 
his freedom would be to pay this up, and thus surprise 
his perplexed parent. After breakfast he therefore took 
a favorite riding horse and cantered to town. Arriving 
at Maidestone he settled with the bank where the “ Brand- 
on loan” was negotiated, and paid Thorpe handsomely 
for his successful defence; in fact a bigger fee than was 
usual to interest his nervous palms; thanked him heartily 
for his untiring energy, and journeyed toward home* 


THE ]VULLIO^^AIRE TRAMP. 


179 


As he was passing Fielding’s gate a small gig-cart over- 
took him, and in the seat was none other than'Lillie. 

Jumping from his saddle he shook both hands warmly 
and planted upon her sweet cheek such an enthusiastic 
kiss that Lillie’s pony looked about saucily, as much as to 
say, “ Well, I declare!” 

What happiness they experienced in this meeting can 
not be portrayed by pen. 

“Lillie! you have saved my name, my future, my 
life! ” 

Lillie blushed. ‘‘ What a grand speech little Thorpe 
made.” 

“Yes, I have just returned from Maidestone, where I 
have been to compliment him.” 

“ Charles, how happy I am that you are free. Your 
trouble hung over me like a pall,” said Lillie, looking up 
with tears of joy in her brilliant eyes. “ 1 chide my- 
self for not hunting you up before.” 

“ There, now, you angel of light, do not chide yourself. 
I sometimes think I was very cowardly to run away, but 
probably it was all for the best.” 

“ That is just what Thorpe said,” replied Lillie, resum- 
ing her gaiety. 

“ What a change has come over my father. He looks 
ten years older, but I will revive him again.” 

“We must now break up the feud,” said Lillie. 

Landsdowne grasped her hand. “Yes; we have but 
one object in life now; break up the feud, and all be good 
friends.” 

“ Yes, good friends,” she echoed. 

“ You and I good friends,” he said. “ God bless you, 
Lillie, you will be my wife.” 

Lillie held down her head. The pony looked about 


180 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


again. The robins on the stone fence by the roadside 
were singing. The sweet-scented clover wafted its fra- 
grance from the meadow. 

One hundred thoughts passed through Lillie’s mind at 
once. The day in the church ; the meeting on the road ; this 
very spot before the accusation; SirKichard Cartwright; 
the trial ; the verdict. Yes, the verdict, what will it be ? 
“Yes!” she answered; rather a determined yes, but, 
withal, the sweetest music ever borne upon the breeze to 
mortal ear. 

Charles replied, “ Bless you, mine forever! ” Jumping 
in the saddle of his impatient horse he saluted Lillie gal- 
lantly and left the gig and pony far behind. When 
Charles entered the gate of Landsdowne Hall and rode 
up to the house with the release of the Squire’s mortgage 
in his hand, and “ Yes,” ringing in his ears, he was the 
happiest man in all England. 

THE END. 

And now we cannot dwell upon the golden scenes of 
love’s bright dream. This story has run its course. All 
interest ceases when nuptials come, but, reader, a few 
more words: 

The grand wedding took place at Margate’s. Squire and 
Mrs. Landsdowne were present. Archibald Margate and 
Lady fairly brimmed over with generosity, kindliness and 
welcome. Emotions hidden by the antagonism of a cen- 
tury sprang to life. The Squire and Mrs. Margate, Arch- 
ibald Margate and Mrs. Landsdowne danced in the Sir 
Roger de Coverly. The fortune bequeathed by Old Tom 
enabled Charles Landsdowne to add vast improvements 
to the estate. As years rolled by the flowers bloom- 
ing along the walks were picked by sweet little Lands- 
downes, and many a day under the shadowy trees sat 


THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP. 


181 


Grrandpa Margate and Grandpa Landsdowne chatting 
harmoniously on the political problems of the day, whilst 
the good old ladies busied themselves discussing house- 
hold affairs. 

On a recent visit to America Charles Landsdowne and 
wife visited the grave of Old Tom, and there now stands 
over his remains a monument, placed by the only true 
friend he ever had, which bears in the inscription a brief 
history of 


The Millionaire Tramp, 


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